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DANTE ALIGHIERI

' Dietro alle poste delle care piante."

Inf. xxiii. 148

BRONZE BUST OF DANTEIn the possession of Whitwonh IVallis, Esq., Rzrmi}igha

PANTE ALIGHIERIHIS LIFE AND WORKS

BT

PAGET TOYNBEEM.A., D.UTT. ««0N.

WITH BIXTEBM ILLC8TBATI0HS

NEW YORKTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1910

DANTE ALIGHIERIHIS LIFE AND WORKS

BY

PAGET TOYNBEEM.A., D.HTT. OXON.

WITH SIXTEEN ILLU8TBAT10N8

NEW YORKTHE MAGMILLAN COMPANY

1910

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

THIS little book lays no claim to originality, and

makes no pretence to learning or research. It is

addressed rather to the so-called general reader than to

the serious Dante student. The narrative is taken largely

from the pages of Villani, Boccaccio, and from other

similar sources. The reader will find fiction (at any rate

from the critic's point of view) as well as fact in these

pages, but he will, I hope, be at no loss to distinguish

between the two. The legends and traditions which

hang around the name of a great personality are a not

unimportant element in his biography, and may some-

times serve to place him as well as, if not better than,

the more sober estimates of the serious historian. I

have not, therefore, thought it outside the scope of this

sketch of Pante's life to include some of the anecdotes

which at an early date began to be associated with his

name, though certain of them demonstrably belong to a

far earlier period.

Again, when a thing has been well said by a previous

writer, I have been content to let him speak, instead of

saying the same thing less well in my own words.

The translations for the most part are my own. I-

vi DANTE ALIGHIERI

have, however, been indebted for an occasional turn or

phrase to Selfe and Wicksteed's Selections from Villani,

and to the latter's versions of the Early Lives of Dante.

The illustrations are reproduced, by permission, from

photographs by Messrs. Alinari and Messrs. Brogi of

Florence.

May, 1900

PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION

A FOURTH edition of this book (the third edition of

which has lately been translated into Italian by

Professor Balsamo-Crivelli, of Turin) having been called

For, I have, at the suggestion of the publishers, availed

myself of the opportunity to make considerable additions

to it (as well as to rectify sundry mistakes and omissions),

ivhich will, I trust, increase its value to students, without

it the same time diminishing its interest for the general

reader.

The present edition differs from its predecessors chiefly

in respect of the much fuller treatment (in Part V) of

Dante's works, of which brief analyses have now been

supplied, together with information as to MSS. and

critical editions, and, in the case of the Divina Commediacommentaries, as well as data, of special interest to the

English reader, as to the various editions and translations

of each work published in this country. Many additional

PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION vii

details will also be found in some of the other sections,

especially in the more strictly biographical portions of

the work.

Further, in the present edition I have made a point of

supplying copious references to authorities (generally at

the foot of the page), which will serve at once as an

acknowledgment of my own obligations, and as a means

whereby the reader may, if desired, check the information

fumished in the text.

The bibliographical and biographical notes in the

original Appendix have been considerably amplified, and

four Appendices have been added. The first of these

consists of a Genealogical Table of the family of Dante,

with references to Dante's own allusions to members of

his family. The others contain respectively, a translation

of the letter of Frate Ilario to Uguccione della Faggiuola,

to which renewed attention has been directed of late

;

extracts from some interesting letters of Seymour Kirkup

to Gabriele Rossetti concerning the discovery of the

Giotto portrait of Dante in the Bargello, and Kirkup's

drawing from it (further information about which, supplied

by Kirkup himself to the late owner of the original

sketch, will be found in the body of the book) ; and,

lastly, a Chronological List of early (cent, xiv-xvi) com-

mentaries on the Divina Commedia.

The index, which of necessity has been entirely recast,

has been made as full as possible in order to render

the varied contents of the book easily accessible to the

student for purposes of reference, and dates have been

inserted as a convenient means of "orientation ".

Sundry illustrations have been added, among them

viii DANTE ALIGHIERI

one of a fine bronze bust of Dante (supposed to be

the work of a French artist at the beginning of the

seventeenth century) in the possession of Mr. Whitworth

Wallis, Director of the Birmingham Museum and Art

Gallery, who kindly supplied a photograph (hitherto un-

published) for the purpose of reproduction in this book.

PAGET TOYNBEE

20 January, 1910{fhe 5goth anniversary of the disputation

" De Aqua et Terra" at Verona)

*^* In the numbering of the poems in the Canzoniere, and the line

references in the prose works, the arrangement of the Oxford Dante hasbeen followed.

" Se Dio ti lasci, Lettor, prender frutto

Di tua lezion."

Inf. XX. 19

CONTENTS

PART I

GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES

CHAPTER I (1215-1250)PAGE

Origin of the names—Distinguishing principles ofthe two parties

in Italy—Introduction of the parties into Florence—The Ghibel-

lines with the aid of Frederick II expel the Guelfs from Florence

—

Return of the Guefe after the Emperor's death, and pacification

between the two 'parties 1-13

CHAPTER II (1Z51-1260)

Renewed hostilities—Adoption of distinctive banners by the two

parties in Florence—The Ghibellines intrigue with Manfred and

are forced to leave Florence—They retire to Siena and persuade

Manfred to send them help—Great Ghibelline victory at Monta-

perti . 14-25

CHAPTER III (1261-1267)

Flight of the Guelfs from Florence—Farinata degli Uberti saves

Florence from destruction—The Ghibellines supreme in Tuscany

—Defeat of Manfred at Benevento by Charles of Anjou—Flight of

Guido Novello and the Ghibelline allies from Florence—Guy de

Montfort arrives in Florence as Charles's vicar—Guelf supremacy

finally re-established 26-35

PART II

DANTE IN FLORENCECHAPTER I (1265-1290)

Dante's birth and ancestry—His father and mother—Cacciaguida

—Geri del Bello—Beatrice Portinari—Episodes in the Vita Nuova

—Folco Portinari—Death of Beatrice—rPoetical correspondence

with Cino da Pistoja, Guido Cavalcanti, and Forese Donati 36-52:

X DANTE ALIGHIERl

CHAPTER II {1289-1290)PAGE

Military service—War with Arezzo—Battle of Campaldino

—

Victory of Florentine Guelfs—Buonconte da Montefeltro—Siege of

Caprona—" Quomodo sedet sola civitas I" . . . . 53-63

CHAPTER III {1291-1300)

Early studies— Brunetto Latino— Classical acquirements—Marriage—Gemma Donati—Children—Public life—Embassy to

San Gemignano—Priorate 64-74

CHAPTER IV (1300- 1302)

Blacks and Whites in Pistoja—In Florence—Cerchi and Donati

—May Day, 1300—Dante in office—Embassy to Rome—Charles of

Valois in Florence—Triumph of the Blacks—Condemnation and

exile of Dante—His possessions and debts .... 75-87

PART III

DANTE IN EXILE

CHAPTER I (1302-1321)

Wanderings—Dante's fellow-exiles—Henry VII in Italy—His

'death—Fresh sentence against Dante—His retirement to Ravenna

—Alleged visits to Mantua, Verona, and Piacenza—Reputed a

«orcerer—Death and burial—His tomb and epitaphs—Elegies 88-108

CHAPTER II

Boccaccio's rebuke to the Florentines—Efforts of Florence to get

possession of Dante's remains—Leo X grants permission for their

removal—Disappearance of the remains—Their accidental discovery

during the commemoration of the sixth centenary of Dante's birth

—

Public exhibition of them at Ravenna, and subsequent re-inter-

ment 109-118

PART IV

CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTECHAPTER I

Boccaccio's account of Dante's person and character-—His love

of fame—His failings—Account of him by his contemporary, Gio-

-vanni Villani .... . . . . iig-127

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER II PAGE

Portraits of Dante—The Giotto portrait in the Bargello

—

Norton's account of the Bargello portrait—Its disappearance and

re-discovery—The death-mask—Its relation to the portrait—The

Naples Bronze—Portrait by Taddeo Gaddi—The Riccardi portrait

—The picture by Domenico di Michelino .... 128-14J

CHAPTER III

Anecdotes of Dante—Dante and Can Grande della Scala

—

Belacqua and Dante—Sacchetti's stories—Dante and the blacksmith

—Dante and the donkey-driver—Dante's creed—Dante and King

Robert of Naples—Dante's reply to the bore—Dante and the Doge

of Venice—Dante a kleptomaniac—Dante and Cecco d' Ascoli 144-157

PART V

DANTE'S WORKS

CHAPTER I

Italian Works—Lyrical Poems—The Vita Ntiova—The Convivio 158-192

CHAPTER II

The Divina Commedia—Its origin, subject, and aim—Date of

composition—Scheme of the poem—Boccaccio's story of the lost

cantos—Why it was vnritten in Italian—Dante and his rhymes

—

Manuscripts and printed editions—English editions and transla-

tions—Commentaries 193-230

CHAPTER III

Latin Works—The De Monarchia—The De Vulgari Eloquentia

—The Letters—The Eclogues—The Quaestio de Aqua et Terra—Apocryphal Works . 231-261

Appendix A—Genealogical Table of the Family of Dante

Appendix B—Letter of Frate Ilario to Uguccione della Faggiuola 263

Appendix C—Extracts from letters from Seymour Kirkup to

Gabriele Rossetti concerning the discovery of the Giotto portrait of

Dante in the Bargello, and Kirkup's drawing from it . . . 267

Appendix D—Chronological List of early (cent, xiv-xvi) com-

mentaries on the Divina Commedia, with titles of printed editions . 271

Appendix E—Bibliographical Note of the Earliest Biographies

and Biographical Notices of Dante 275

Index 283

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Bronze bust of Dante Frontispiece

PACING PAGE

2. Florence and the Arno i

3. The city of Florence . 13

4. Farinata degli Uberti {from the painting by Andrea del

Castagno, in the Museo Nazionale at Florence) ... 27

5. Dante's house in Florence -376. The Baptistery of San Giovanni at Florence .... 42

7. San Gemignano . 73

8. Cast of Dante's face taken after death 88

g. Dante's tomb at Ravenna 107

10. Chest in which Dante's remains were found at Ravenna in 1865 115

11. Portrait of Dante (from Codex 1040 in the Riccardi Library

at Florence) iig

12. Portrait of Dante by Giotto in the Bargello at Florence (from a

drawing by Seymour Kirkup) . . ... 128

13. Mask of Dante in the Ufifizi at Florence (formerly in the

possession of the Marchese Torrigiani) ..... 137

14. Bronze bust of Dante at Naples 141

15. Dante and his book (from the picture by Domenico di Michelino,

in the Duomo at Florence) 193

16. Dante Alighieri (from the painting by Andrea del Castagno,

in the Museo Nazionale at Florence) 231

Thou know'st perchance how Phoebus' self did guide

Our Tuscan Dante up the lofty side

Of snow-clad Cyrrha ; how our Poet wonParnassus' peak, and founts of Helicon

;

How with Apollo, ranging wide, he sped

Through Nature's whole domain, and visited

Imperial Rome, and Paris, and so passed

O'er seas to Britain's distant shores at last.

(Boccaccio to Petrarch)

" the grete poete ol Ytaille

That highte Dant."

Chaucer, Monk's Tale

PART I


'^' CHAPTER I

1215-1250

Oiigin of the names—Distinguishing principles of the two parties in

Italy—Introduction of the parties into Florence—The Ghibellines with

the aid of Frederick II expel the Guelfs from Florence—Return of the

Guelfs after the Emperor's death, and pacification between the twoparties.

NORTHERN ITALY in the middle of the thirteenth

century, at the time of Dante's birth,^ was divided

into two great political parties, of which the one, knownby the name of Guelfs, looked to the Pope as their head,

while the others, the Ghibellines, looked to the Emperor.

The distinctive titles of these two parties were of Germanorigin, being merely Italianized forms (Guelfo and Ghi-

bellino) of the two German names Wei/and Weiblingen.

The former of these was the name of an illustrious family,

several members of which had successively been Dukes of

Bavaria in the teatli- and elev^iHi centuries. The heiress

of the last of these intermarried with a younger son of

the house of Este ; and from them sprang a second line

of Guelfs, from whom the royal house of Bmnswkk is

descended. -f^v^.'jy-ey-

' May, 1265.

2 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES

Weiblingen was the name of a castle in Franconia, be-

longing to Conrad the Salic, who was Emperor from 1024

to 1039, ^^^ '^^^ ^^^ progenitor, through the female line,

of the Swabian emperors. By the election of Lothair in

1 125 in succession to Henry V (Emperor from 11 06 to

1 125) the Swabian family were ousted from what they

had come to regard almost as an hereditary possession;

and at this time a hostility appears to have commenced

between them and the house of Welf, who were nearly

related to Lothair. In 107 1 the Emperor Henry IV had

conferred the Duchy of Bavaria upon the Welfs ; and in

1080 the Duchy of Swabia had been conferred upon the

Counts of Hohenstaufen, who represented the Franconian

line.

The accession in 1138 of Conrad HI of Swabia to the

Imperial throne, and the rebellion of Henry the Proud,

the Welf Duke of Bavaria, gave rise to a bloody struggle

between the two houses ; and at the battle of Weinsberg,

fought on 21 December, 1140, in which the Welf Dukewas defeated by Conrad, the names Welfand Weiblingen

were for the first time, it is said, adopted as war-

cries.

These names, which in Germany, as we have seen, dis-

tinguished the two sides in the conflict between the Welfs

and the Imperial Swabian or Hohenstaufen line, in Italy

acquired a different meaning, and became identified re-

spectively with the supporters of the Church and the

supporters of the Empire. Their first appearance in

Italy seenis to have been quite at the beginning of the

thirteenth century, when they were adopted by the twoleading parties which divided the towns of Lombardyduring the struggle for the Imperial throne betweenPhilip, Duke of Swabia (brother of the Emperor HenryVI), and the Welf Otto of Brunswick, many important

DISTINGUISHING PRINCIPLES 3

Italian towns sympathizing with the latter, who after his

rival's death in 1208 became Emperor as Otto IV.

The division between the opposing factions rapidly

deepened, till not only rival towns, but also the leading

families within the towns themselves, became involved in

party strife, the citizens ranging themselves, ostensibly at

least, under the chiefs on either side.

The main outlines of the principles which actuated the

two parties in Italy, during the period covered by this

book, have been ably sketched by the late Dean Church." The names of Guelf and Ghibelline," he writes, " were

the inheritance of a contest which, in its original meaning,

had been long over. The old struggle between the priest-

hood and the Empire was still kept up traditionally, but

its ideas and interests were changed. It had passed over

from the mixed region of the spiritual and temporal into

the purely political. The cause of the Popes was that of

the independence of Italy—the freedom and alliance of

th6 great cities of the north, and the dependence of the

centre and south on the Roman See, To keep the Em-peror out of Italy, to create a barrier of powerful cities

against him south of the Alps, to form behind themselves

a compact territory, rich, removed from the first burst of

invasion, and maintaining a strong body of interested

feudatories, had now become the great object of the

Popes. The two parties did not care to keep in view

principles which their chiefs had lost sight of. The Em-peror and the Pope were both real powers, able to protect

and assist ; and they divided between them those who re-

quired protection and assistance. Geographical position,

the rivalry of neighbourhood, family tradition, private

feuds, and above all private interest, were the main causes

which assigned cities, families, and individuals to the

Ghibelline or Guelf party. One party called themselves

4 GUELFS AND GHIBELJLlJNJtb

the Emperor's liegemen, and their watchword was authority

and law; the other side were the liegemen of Holy

Church, and their cry was liberty ; and the distinction as

a broad one is true. But a democracy would become

Ghibelline, without scruple, if its neighbour town was

Guelf; and among the Guelf liegemen of the Church and

liberty the pride of blood and love of power were not a

whit inferior to that of their opponents.

"The Ghibellines as a body reflected the worldliness,

the licence, the irreligion, the reckless selfishness, the

daring insolence, and at the same time the gaiety and

pomp, the princely magnificence and generosity and large-

ness of mind of the house of Swabia ; they were the menof the court and camp, imperious and haughty from an-

cient lineage, or the Imperial cause, yet not wanting in the

frankness and courtesy of nobility; careless of public

opinion and public rights, but not dead to the grandeur

of public objects and public services. The Guelfs, on the

other hand, were the party of the middle classes; they

rose out of and held to the people; they were strong bytheir compactness, their organization in cities, their com-

mercial relations and interests, their command of money.

Further, they were professedly the party of strictness and

religion, a profession which fettered them as little as their

opponents were fettered by the respect they claimed for

Imperial law. But though by personal unscrupulousness

and selfishness, and in instances of public vengeance, they

sinned as deeply as the Ghibellines, they stood far morecommitted as a party to a public meaning and purpose

—

to improvement in law and the condition of the poor, to

a protest against the insolence of the strong, to the en-

couragement of industry. The genuine Guelf spirit wasaustere, frugal, independent, earnest, religious, fond of its

home and Church, and of those celebrations which bound

THE PARTIES IN FLORENCE 5

together Church and home ; but withal vety proud, very

intolerant ; in its higher form intolerant of evil, but intol-

erant always to whatever displeased it."^

" Speaking generally," as another writer ^ puts it, " the

Ghibellines were the party of the Emperor, and the Guelfs

the party of the Pope : the Ghibellines were on the side

of authority, or sometimes of oppression ; the Guelfs were

on the side of liberty and self-government. Again, the

Ghibellines were the supporters of a universal Empire, of

which Italy was to be the head ; the Guelfs were on the

side of national life and national individuality."

The introduction of the Guelf and Ghibelline factions

into Florence is said by the old Florentine chroniclers to

have taken place in the year 12 15, on the occasion of a

blood-feud which arose out of the murder of one of the

Buondelmonti by one of the Amidei, both of them noble

Florentine families, on Easter Sunday in that year. Thestory of this murder, and of the incident which led to it, is

related as follows by Giovanni Villani in his NewChronicle of the City of Florence, which he began to

write in 1 300, the year of the first Jubilee of the RomanChurch.

"In the year of Christ 1215," he says, "Messer Gher-

ardo Orlandi being Podesti of Florence,^ one Messer

Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti, a noble citizen of Flor-

ence, having promised to take to wife a damsel of the

house of the Amidei, honourable and noble citizens; as

the said M. Buondelmonte, who was a very handsome and

'^Bante : An Essay. By R. W. Church.

'O. Browning, in Guelfs and Ghibellines.

'The Podesta was the chief magistrate of the city, who was appointed

for one year. With a view to securing impartiality in the administration

ofjustice the office of Podesti was always held by a stranger—never by a

native of Florence.


fine cavalier, was riding through the city, a lady of the

house of ihe Donati called to him, and found fault with

him on account of the lady to whom he had betrothed

himself, as being neither fair enough nor a fitting match

for him, and saying: I had kept my daughter here for

you—whom she showed to him, and she was very beauti-

ful. And he straightway, at the prompting of the Evil

One, becoming enamoured of her, was betrothed to her

and took her to wife ; for which cause the kinsfolk of the

lady to whom he was first betrothed, being assembled to-

gether and smarting under the shame which M. Buondel-

monte had put upon them, were filled with the accursed

rage, whereby the city of Florence was laid waste and

divided against herself; for many families of the nobles

swore together to put shame on the said M. Buondelmonte

in revenge for these wrongs. And as they were in council

among themselves as to how they should retaliate on him,

either by beating him or by stabbing him, Mosca de' Lam-bjerti spoke the evil word : A thing done ha"s an end—tfiaf

'

i^that he should be slain. And so it was done ; for on

the morning of Easter Day they assembled in the house

of the Amidei of Santo Stefano, and M. Buondelmonte

coming from beyond Arno, bravely arrayed in new gar-

ments all white, and on a white palfrey, when he reached

the foot of the Ponte Vecchio on this side, just at the foot

of the pillar where stood the statue of Mars, the said M.Buondelmonte was thrown from his horse on to the ground

by Schiatta degli Uberti, and set on and stabbed by MoscaLamberti and Lambertuccio degli Amidei, and his throat

cut by Oderigo Fifanti, and an end made of him ; andwith them was one of the Counts of Gangalandi. On these

doings the city rushed to arms in tumult ; and this death

of M. Buondelmonte was the cause and beginning of the

accursed Guelf and Ghibelline parties in Florence, albeit

THE PARTIES IN FLORENCE 7

that before this time there had been many factions amongthe nobles of the city, and parties as aforesaid, by reason

of the quarrels and disputes between the Church and the

Empire; but on account of the death of the said M.Buondelmonte all the families of the nobles and other

citizens of Florence took sides, and some held with the

Buondelmonti, who joined the Guelf party and became its

leaders, and some with the Uberti, who became the leaders

of the Ghibellines. And from this followed great evil and

ruin to our city, which is like never to have an end, unless

God bring it to an end." ^

Villani then proceeds to give a list of the noble families

in Florence who joined either side, the Guelfs, as he has

already explained, under the leadefship of the Buondel-

monti, and the Ghibellines under that of the Uberti.

"And this," he repeats, "is how these accursed parties

took their origin in Florence, albeit at first not very openly,

there being division among the nobles of the city, in that

some loved the rule of the Church, and some that of the

Empire, nevertheless as to the good estate and well-being

of the commonwealth all were at one."

The conflict between the Guelfs and Ghibellines in

Florence, thus commenced by the murder of Buondel-

monte, continued, with varying fortune to either side, for a

period of fifty-two years, from 121 5 to 1267, when the

Guelf party finally remained masters of the situation. In

1248 the Emperor Frederick II, wishing to retaliate upon

the Papacy for the unjust sentence ofdeposition pronounced

against him by Innocent IV three years before at the

Council of Lyons, and anxious to weaken the Church party,

made offers to the Uberti, the leaders of the Florentine

Ghibellines, to- help them to expel from their city his

enemies and their own. His offer being accepted, he des-

1 Villani, bk. v. ch. 38.


patched a force of German horsemen under his son,

Frederick of Antioch, by whose aid, after a fierce struggle,

the Guelfs were driven out.

Villani gives a vivid account of the street-fighting which

took place on this occasion. Being a Guelf, he naturally

has no sympathy with Frederick and his allies. " In these

times," he writes, " Frederick being in Lombardy, after his

deposition from the title of Emperor by Pope Innocent,

set himself, so far as he was able, to destroy in Tuscany

and Lombardy the faithful sons of Holy Church in every

city where he had power. And inasmuch as our city of

Florence was not among the least notable and powerful of

Italy, he desired to pour out his venom upon her, and to

breed further strife between the accursed parties of the

Guelfs and Ghibellines, which had begun some time before

through the murder of Buondelmonte, and even earlier, as

we have already related. But although since then the

said parties had continued among the nobles of Florence,

and they had at sundry times been at war among them-

selves on account of their private enmities, and were

divided by reason of the said parties and held to their

several sides,- those who were called Guelfs preferring the

government of the Pope and Holy Church, and those whowere called Ghibellines favouring the Emperor and his

following, nevertheless the people and commonwealth of

Florence were steadfast in unity, to the well-being andhonour and good estate of the republic.

" But now the Emperor sending letters and ambassadorsto the family of the Uberti, who were the heads of his

party, and to their following who called themselves Ghibel-

lines, invited them to drive from the cities their enemies

the Guelfs, offering some of his horsemen to help them.And thus he caused the Uberti to begin dissension andcivil warfare in Florence, whereby the city fell into great

PARTY STRIFE IN FLORENCE 9

disorder, and the nobles and all the people were divided,

some holding to one side and some to the other ; and in

several quarters of the city there was fighting for a long

time. The chief of it was among the houses of the Uberti,

where the great palace of the people now stands ; there

they gathered with their followers and fought against the

Guelfs of San Piero Scheraggio; and the Guelfs from

beyond Amo crossed over by the river dams and cameand helped to fight the Uberti. The next place was in

Porte San Piero, where the Tedaldini were the chief Ghi-

bellines, as having the strongest buildings, palaces, and

towers ; and they and their allies fought against the Donati,

the Adimari, and others. And the third fight took place

in Porte del Duomo, by the tower of Messer Lancia de'

Cattani of Castiglione, with the Brunelleschi and other

Ghibelline leaders, and many of the populace on the same

side, against the Tosinghi and others. And another was

in San Brancazio, where the Lamberti were the Ghibelline

leaders, with many of the people on their side, against the

Guelfs of that quarter. And the Ghibellines in San

Brancazio made their stand at the tower ofthe Soldanieri,

where a bolt from the tower struck the Guelf standard-

bearer (their standard being a crimson lily on a white

field) in the face, so that he died. And on the day the

Guelfs were driven out they came in arms and buried himin San Lorenzo ; and when they were gone the canons of

San Lorenzo removed the body, for fear the Ghibellines

should dig it up and do it violence, inasmuch as this M.Rustico Marignolli was a great captain among the Guelfs.

And the Ghibellines made another attack in the Borgo,

where the Soldanieri and Guidi were their leaders, against

the Buondelmonti, Cavalcanti, and others. And there was

fighting between the two sides beyond Amo as well, but

here it was chiefly among the populace.

lo GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES

" So it came about that this warfare went on for some

time, as they fought at the barriers or barricades, from one

quarter to another, and from one tower to another (for

there were many towers in Florence in those days, a hun-

dred cubits and more in height), and they used mangonels

and other engines of war, and kept up the fighting day and

night. In the midst of the struggle the Emperor sent his

bastard son Frederick to Florence, with sixteen hundred

of his German horsemen. And when the Ghibellines

heard that they were at hand, they took heart and fought

more stoutly and with greater boldness against the Guelfs,

who had no other help, and looked for none, seeing that

the Pope was at Lyons on Rhone, beyond the mountains,

and that the power of Frederick was far too great in every

part of Italy. And at this time the Ghibellines made use

of a device of war, for they collected the greater part of

their force at the house of the Uberti, and when the fight-

ing began in the quarters named above, they went in a

body to oppose the Guelfs, and by this means overpowered

them in nearly every part of the city, save in their ownquarter, against the barricade of the Guidalotti and Bagnesi,

who held out for a time ; and to that place the Guelfs re-

paired, and the whole force of the Ghibellines against

them. At last the Guelfs, finding themselves hard pressed,

and learning that the Emperor's horsemen were already

in Florence (King Frederick having arrived with his menon the Sunday morning), after holding out until the

Wednesday, abandoned the defence, the force of the

Ghibellines being too strong for them, and fled from the

city on Candlemas night (2 February), in the year 1248."!

Villani goes on to describe how the Ghibellines made use

of their victory, ruthlessly destroying their enemies' pro-

perty, and even attempting to wreck the beautiful Bap-

' Villani, bk. vi. ch. 33.

PARTY STRIFE IN FLORENCE ii

tistery of San Giovanni, which the Guelfs used as a meeting

place, by throwing down upon it the neighbouring Towerof the " Guardamorto,"—so called because, the bodies of

those taken to be buried in San Giovanni rested there.

In this attempt fortunately they failed, and the Baptistery,

which before the erection of the present Duomo served as

the Cathedral of Florence, stands to this day.

" The Ghibellines, who now remained masters of Flor-

ence," continues the chronicler, " set to work to refashion

the city after their own manner, razing to the ground

thirty-six strongholds of the Guelfs, both palaces and great

towers, among them being the noble residence of the

Tosinghi in the old Market Place, known as the Palace,

which was ninety cubits high, built with marble columns,

and had a tower above of a hundred and thirty cubits.

And still greater wickedness were the Ghibellines guilty

of; for inasmuch as the Guelfs used to come together often

to the Church of San Giovanni, and all the good people

went there every Sunday morning, and were married

there, when the Ghibellines came to destroy the towers of

the Guelfs, among the rest was a very tall and beautiful

one, which stood upon the Piazza of San Giovanni, at the

entrance of the Corso degli Adimari, and it was called the' Torre del Guardamorto,' because anciently all the goodfolk who died were buried in San Giovanni, and the foot

of this tower the Ghibellines caused to be cut away, andprops to be inserted in such wise that when fire was set to

the props, the tower might fall upon the Church of SanGiovanni.^ And this was done ; but as it pleased God,

'According to Vasari, this method of throwing down high towers,

which is employed to this day for the demolition of disused factory-

chimneys, was invented by the famous architect, Niccola Pisano. He is

said to have contrived it on this very occasion of the destruction of the

Guardamorto tower, which he was commissioned to carry out. There is


by a miracle of the blessed St. John, when the tower, which

was a hundred and twenty cubits high, began to fall, it

appeared clearly that it would miss the church, and turn-

ing round it fell right across the Piazza, whereat all the

Florentines marvelled greatly, and the people were muchrejoiced. Now mark this," concludes the indignant Villani,

"that from the day Florence was rebuilt there had not

been a single house destroyed, and this accursed wicked-

ness of destruction was first begun by the Ghibellines at

this time."

When later on the turn of the Guelfs came, they retal-

iated on their foes by building the walls of the city with

the stones of Ghibelline palaces.^ Such was their hatred

of the Uberti, the Ghibelline leaders, that it was decreed

that the site on which their houses had stood should never

again be built on, and it remains to this day the Great

Square (Piazza della Signoria) of Florence. When in

1298 the architect Arnolfo di Lapo was commissioned to

build the Palazzo della Signoria (now known as the Pal-

azzo Vecchio), he was obliged to sacrifice the symmetry of

his plans, and place it awry, the Guelfs insisting in spite of

his repealed protests, that not a stone of the foundations

should rest on the accursed ground once occupied by the

Uberti.2

On the death of the Emperor Frederick (13 December,

1250) the Guelfs were allowed to return to Florence, and

a pacification between the two parties took place.

" On the very night," says Villani, " that the Emperordied, the Podesta who held for him in Florence, as he was

a tradition that what Villani attributes to a miracle was in reality due to

design on the part of Niccola, who, wishing to spare the Baptistery, pur-

posely contrived that the tower should fall wide of it.

' Villani, bk. vi. ch. 65

.

2 Villani, hk. viii. oh. 26; Vasari, Vita di Arnolfo di Lapo.

TEMPORARY PACIFICATION 13

sleeping in his bed in the house of the Abati, was killed

by the fall of the vaulting of his chamber. And this was

a sure sign that the Emperor's power was to come to an

end in Florence ; and so it came to pass very soon, for

there being a rising among the people by reason of the

violence and excesses of the Ghibelline nobles, and the

news of the Emperor's death reaching Florence, a few days

afterwards the people recalled and restored the Guelfs whohad been driven out, and made them make their peace

with the Ghibellines. And this took place on the seventh

day of January, in the year of Christ 1250." ^, . ,-,

»Villani, bk. vi. ch. 42. ^ ,^^,ai^ ^.3-8.

CHAPTER II

1251-1260

Renewed hostilities—Adoption of distinctive banners by the two parties

in Florence—The Ghibellines intrigue with Manfred and are forced to

leave Florence—They retire to Siena and persuade Manfred to send them

help—Great Ghibelline victory at Montaperti.

THE peace concluded between the Guelfs and Ghibel-

lines in Florence after the Emperor Frederick's

death was not fated to be of long duration. Already in

the very next year several prominent Ghibelline families

were expelled from the city on account of their opposition

to a Florentine expedition against the neighbouring Ghi-

belline stronghold of Pistoja. The Pistojans were defeated,

and on their return the Florentines, flushed with victory,

turned upon their factious opponents at home, and drove

them into banishment (July, 125 1). It was at this time

that the two parties definitely adopted distinctive stand-

ards, and thus openly ranged themselves in opposite

camps, as Villani relates.

" After the banishment of the Ghibelline leaders, the

people and the Guelfs who remained masters of Florence

changed the arms of the commonwealth of Florence ; and

whereas of old they bore a white lily on a red field, they

now reversed them, making the field white and the lily

red ; and the Ghibellines retained the former ensign.

But the ancient ensign of the commonwealth, half white,

14

RENEWED HOSTILITIES IN FLORENCE 15

half red, that is the standard which went to battle on the

Carroccio/ was never changed." ^

Six or seven years later than this (in 1258) the Floren-

tines found it necessary to expel the rest of the important

Ghibelline families, in consequence of their having entered

into a conspiracy, at the head of which were the Uberti,

the Ghibelline leaders, with the aid of Manfred, son of the

Emperor Frederick, to break up the popular government

of Florence, which was essentially Guelf.

"When this plot was discovered," writes the Florentine

chronicler, "the Uberti and their Ghibelline following

were summoned to appear before the magistrates, but they

refused to obey, and violently assaulted and wounded the

retinue of the Podesta ; for which cause the people rose in

arms and in fury made for the houses of the Uberti, where

is now the Piazza of the Palace of the People and of the

Priors, and slew there one of the Uberti family and several

of their retainers ; and another ofthe Uberti and one ofthe

Infangati were taken and, after they had confessed as to

the conspiracy, were beheaded in Orto San Michele. Andthe rest of the Uberti, together with the leading Ghibelline

families, fled from Florence, and went to Siena, which wasunder a Ghibelline Government, and was hostile to

Florence ; and their palaces and towers, which were manyin number, were destroyed, and with the stones were

built the walls of San Giorgio beyond Arno, which were

begun at this time on account of war with Siena."'

In illustration of the temper of the Government at

this time, and of their loyalty and uprightness towards the

^ The Cairoccio was a large waggon drawn by oxen which carried the

standard of the Florentines, and usually accompanied them on the field.

See Villani's description given below (pp. 17-18J,'Villani, bk. vi. ch. 45.

'Villani, bk. vi. ch. 65.

1

6


commonwealth, Villani relates how one of their number,

who appropriated and sent to his country house a grating

which had belonged to the lion's den, and was lying in the

mud in the Piazzi of San Giovanni, was fined a thousand

lire, as having defrauded the State.^

The exiled Ghibellines, who had taken refuge in Siena,

without loss of time made preparations for an attempt to

win their way back to Florence. Failing to obtain the

necessary support from the Sienese, they determined to

apply for help to Manfred, who was now King of Sicily,

and they sent envoys to the king in Apulia for that pur-

pose. " And when the envoys arrived, being the best

captains and leaders among them, there was a long delay,

for Manfred neither despatched the business, nor gave

audience to their request, on account of the many affairs

he had on hand. At last when, being anxious to depart,

they took leave of him very ill-content, Manfred promised

to furnish them a hundred German horsemen for their aid.

The envoys, much disturbed at this offer, withdrew to take

counsel as to their answer, being minded to refuse such a

sorry aid, and ashamed to return to Siena, for they had

hoped that Manfred would give them a force of at least

fifteen hundred horsemen. rBut Farinata degli Uberti

said : Be not dismayed, let us not refuse his aid in any

wise, be it never so little ; but let us beg as a favour that

he send with them his standard, and when they are cometo Siena we will set it in such a place that he will needs

have to send us more men. And so it came to pass that

following Farinata's wise counsel they accepted Manfred's

offer, and prayed him as a favonr to send his standard to

be at their head ; and he did so. And when they returned

to Siena with this scanty force, there was great scorn amongthe Sienese, and great dismay among the Florentine exiles,


THE FLORENTINE CARROCCIO 17

who had looked for much greater help and support from

King Manfred." 1

An opportunity for carrying out Farinata's scheme soon

offered itself, for in May, 1 260, the Florentines fitted out a

great host and advanced against Siena, with their standard

flying from the Carroccio, and their great war-bell tolling.

Villani takes occasion in his account of this expedition

to give a full description of the pomp observed by the

Florentines when they went to war in those days.

"The people and commons of Florence gathered a

general host against the city of Siena, and led out the

Carroccio. And you must know that the Carroccio which

the Florentines led out to war was a car upon four wheels

all painted red, and on it were raised two great masts also

red, upon which was spread to the wind the great standard

with the arms of the commonwealth, half white and half

red, as is to be seen to this day in San Giovanni ; and it

was drawn by a pair of oxen of great size, covered with

cloth of red, which were kept solely for this purpose, and

the driver was a freeman of the commonwealth. This

Carroccio was used by our forefathers in triumphal proces-

sions and on high occasions ; and when it went out with

the host, the lords and counts of the country round, andthe noble knights of the city, fetched it from its quarters

in San Giovanni, and brought it on to the Piazza of the

Mercato Nuovo ; and having stationed it beside a boundary-

stone, carved like the Carroccio, which is still there, they

handed it over to the keeping of the people. And it wasescorted to the field of battle by the best and bravest andstrongest of the foot-soldiers of the people of the city, whowere chosen to guard it, and round it was mustered the

whole force of the people. And when war was declared,

a month before they were to set out, a bell was hung on


1

8


the archway of the gate of Santa Maria, which was at the

end of the Mercato Nuovo, and it was rung without ceas-

ing night and day; and this was done out of pride, in

order that the enemy against whom war was declared

might have time to prepare himself. And this bell was

called by some the Martinella, and by others the Asses'

Bell.i And when the Florentine host set out, the bell was

taken down from the archway and was hung in a wooden

tower on a waggon, and the toll of it guided the host on

its march. And by this pomp of the Carroccio and the

bell was maintained the masterful pride of the people of

old and of our forefathers when they went to battle.

" And now we will leave that matter and will return to

the Florentines and their expedition against Siena. After

they had taken three castles of the Sienese, they sat down

before the city, hard by the entrance-gate to the monas-

tery of Santa Petronella, and there on a high mound which

could be seen from the city they erected a tower, wherein

they kept their bell. And in contempt of the Sienese, and

as a record of victory, they filled it with earth, and planted

an olive tree in it, which was still there down to our

days." 2

It was in the course of these operations before Siena

that Farinata's scheme for forcing Manfred to send further

assistance to the Ghibelline exiles was put into execution.

" It came to pass during the siege of Siena that one day

the exiled Florentines gave a feast to King Manfred's

German horsemen, and having plied them well with wine

till they were drunk, they raised a shout and instantly

urged them to arm and get to horse and attack the Flor-

' This bell was afterwards hung in the campanile of the Palazzo della

Signoiia, and was used to summon the magistrates and people to

meetings.


MANFRED AND THE GHIBELLINES 19

entine host, promising them large gifts and double pay

;

and this was craftily devised in accordance with the

counsel given by M. Farinata degli Uberti when in Apulia.

The Germans, flushed with wine and excitement, sallied

out from Siena, and made a vigorous attack on the campof the Florentines, who were unprepared, and had only a

small guard, as they made little account of the enemy's

forces ; and the Germans, though they were only few in

number, in their sudden assault wrought great havoc

among the Florentines, numbers of whom, both horse and

foot, behaved very ill, and fled in a panic, supposing their

assailants to be in much greater force. But presently,

seeing their mistake, they took to their arms, and made a

stand against the Germans, and of all who came out from

Siena not a single one escaped alive, for they overpowered

and slew them every one ; and King Manfred's standard

was captured and dragged through the camp, and taken

to Florence ; and shortly afterwards the Florentine host

returned to Florence." ^

The Ghibellines lost no time in sending the news to

Manfred of how his Germans had nearly put to flight the

whole Florentine army, and they represented that if there

had been more of them they would undoubtedly have

been victorious; owing, however, to their small numberthey had all been left dead upon the field, and the royal

standard had been captured, and insulted, and dragged in

the mire through the Florentine camp, and afterwards in

the streets of Florence. In this manner they used the

arguments which they knew would most strongly appeal

to Manfred, who, now that his honour was involved, en-

gaged to send into Tuscany, under the command of CountGiordano, 800 more of his German horsemen, their services

to be at the disposal of the Ghibellines for the space of

'Villani, bk. vi. ch. 75.


three months, the cost being borne half by Manfred and

half by the Sienese and their allies. This force reached

Siena at the end of July, 1260, and was welcomed with

great rejoicings not only by the Sienese and the Florentine

exiles, but by the whole of the Ghibellines throughout

Tuscany. " And when they were come to Siena, im-

mediately the Sienese sent out an expedition against the

castle of Montalcino, which was subject to the common-wealth of Florence, and they sent fon aid to the Pisans

and to all the Ghibellines of Tuscany, so that what with

the horsemen of Siena, and the exiles from Florence, to-

gether with the Germans, and their other allies, they had

eighteen hundred horsemen in Siena, ofwhom the Germans

were the best part." ^

The great anxiety of the Sienese and their allies nowwas to draw the Florentines into the field, before the three

months expired during which the services of King Man-fred's Germans were at their disposal. Farinata degli

Uberti, therefore, with the connivance of the Sienese,

entered into secret negotiations with the Florentines, pre-

tending that the exiled Ghibellines were dissatisfied with

the Sienese, and longed for peace, and that many of the

Sienese themselves were anxious to shake off the govern-

ment of their arrogant leader, Provenzano Salvani. Heconsequently proposed to the Florentines that, under pre-

text of relieving Montalcino, which was being besieged bythe Sienese, they should despatch a strong force to the

Arbia, in readiness for an attack on Siena, one of the

gates of which he promised should be opened to them.The majority of the Florentines, completely deceived,

were for accepting Farinata's proposal, and acting on it

without delay. But the wiser heads among them werenot so sanguine. The great Guelf nobles, with the re-

'Villani, bk, vi. ch, 76.

BATTLE OF MONTAPERTI 21

nowned Guido Guerra ' at their head, and with Tegghiaio

Aldobrandi^ as their spokesman, knowing more of the

conditions of warfare, and being aware that their enemies

had been reinforced by a body of German mercenaries,

looked upon the undertaking with grave misgivings, and

counselled delay, until the Germans, whose term of three

months had already half expired, should be disbanded.

But the minds of the others were made up, and they ob-

stinately refused to listen to reason—one of them even

going so far as to taunt Tegghiaio, who was acknowledged

as a brave and valiant knight, with cowardice, to which he

replied by challenging his opponent to adventure himself

on the day of battle wherever he himself should go.

" And so, through the proud and headstrong people, the

worse counsel prevailed, namely, that the host should set

forth immediately and without delay. And the people of

Florence having taken the ill resolve to send the expedi-

tion, asked their allies for help ; and there came foot and

horse from Lucca, and Bologna, and Pistoja, and Prato,

and Volterra, and San Miniato, and San Gemignano, and

from Colle in the Valdelsa, all of which were in league

with the commonwealth and people of Florence ; and in

Florence there were eight hundred horsemen belonging to

the city, and more than five hundred mercenaries. Andwhen all these were assembled in Florence, the host set out

at the end of August, with the Carroccio and the bell called

Martinella, and with them went out nearly all the people,

with the banners of the guilds, and there was scarce a house

or a family in Florence which did not send, on foot or

mounted, at least one, or two, or more, according as they

were able.

" And when they arrived in the Sienese territory, at the

1 Inferno, xvi. 38.

'^'tnfirm,yi. 79 ; xvi. 41-2.

22 GUELFS AND GHIBELLIJNES

place agreed upon on the Arbia, called Montaperti,^

together with the men of Perugia and of Orvieto, whothere joined the Florentines, there were in all assembled

more than three thousand horsemen, and more than thirty

thousand foot.

" And while the Florentine host was thus making ready,

the Ghibelline conspirators in Siena, to make sure of the

success of their plot, sent other messengers to Florence to

concert treason with certain of the Ghibellines who had

not been exiled from Florence, and who were obliged to

join in the common muster of the Florentines. Withthese it was agreed that, when they were drawn up for

battle, they should desert from their companies in every

quarter, and come over to the other side, so as to throw

the Florentines into a panic ; for to the Ghibellines their

own force appeared to be small compared with that of the

Florentines. And this was agreed upon. Meanwhile the

Florentine host was on the hills of Montaperti, and the

leaders who had entered into the secret negotiations with

M. Farinata degli Uberti, as has already been told, were

waiting for the traitors within Siena to open one of the

gates to them, as had been promised.

"And one of the Ghibellines in the Florentine host,

named Razzante, having got wind of what the Florentines

were waiting for, with the consent of the Ghibellines in

the camp who were meditating treason, galloped out from

the camp into Siena, in order to make known to the

Florentine exiles how the city of Siena was to be betrayed,

and how the Florentine host was well equipped, with

great force of horse and foot, and to urge those inside not

to hazard battle. And when he was come into Siena and

had laid these things before M. Farinata and the others

who were in the secret, they said to him : It will be the

' Inferno, x. 85-6 ; xxxii. 81,

BATTLE OF MONTAPERTI 23

death of us if you spread this news abroad in Siena, inas-

much as every one will be panic-struck ; but do you say

the contrary, for if we do not fight while we have these

Germans, we are all dead men, and shall never see Flor-

ence again ; death and defeat would be better for us, than

to go moping about the world any longer. And they de-

cided to adventure the fortune of battle.

" So Razzante, being primed by them, promised to

speak after their mind ; and with a garland on his head,

and with great show of joy, accompanied on horseback by

M. Farinata and M. Gherardo de' Lamberti, he came to

the assembly in the palace where were all the people of

Siena, with the Germans, and their other allies. Andhere, with a joyful countenance, he told great news from

the Ghibellines and traitors in the enemy's camp, how the

Florentine host was ill-ordered, and badly led, and dis-

united ; and how, if they were boldly attacked, they would

of a certainty be routed. Having heard this false account

from Razzante, at the cry of the people they all rushed to

arms, shouting : To battle, to battle. And the Germans

demanded a promise of double pay, which was granted

;

and their troop led the way to the attack by the gate of

San Vito, which was to have been given over to the

Florentines ; and the rest of the horse and foot marched

out behind them.

"When those among the Florentine host who were

waiting for the gate to be opened to them, saw the

Germans and the rest of the horse and foot coming out

from Siena against them, as for battle, they wondered

greatly, and were in no small alarm, at the sight of their

sudden advance and unexpected attack ; and they were

still further dismayed, when a number of the Ghibellines

who were in their camp, both on horse and on foot, seeing

the enemy's troops advance, treacherously deserted to the


other side, as had been previously arranged. Neverthe-

less the Florentines and their allies did not neglect to

draw up their ranks and await the onset.

" And as the troop of Germans charged headlong into

the body of Florentine horsemen, where was the standard

of the commonwealth cavalry, which was carried by M.

Jacopo del Nacca of the Pazzi family of Florence, a manof great valour, the traitor, M. Bocca degli Abati,^ whowas in his troop and close to him, struck M. Jacopo with

his sword, and cut off the hand with which he was holding

the standard. And when this was done, both horse and

foot, seeing the standard down, and finding that there

were traitors among them, and that they were being

furiously attacked by the Germans, very soon turned and

fled. But owing to the Florentine horsemen being the

first to discover the treachery, there were but thirty-six

men of note among them taken or killed. The greatest

number of killed and prisoners was among the Florentine

foot, and those of Lucca and of Orvieto, inasmuch as they

shut themselves up in the castle of Montaperti, and wereall taken ; but more than two thousand five hundred of

them were left dead on the field, and more than fifteen

hundred were taken prisoners of the flower of the people

of Florence, of every family, and of Lucca, and of the rest

of the allies who took part in the battle.

" And thus was abased the arrogance of the ungrateful

and overbearing people of Florence. And this took place

on Tuesday, the fourth of September, in the year of Christ

1260. And there was taken the Carroccio,^ and the Mar-tinella, and an immense booty, of the baggage of the Flor-

entines and their allies. And on this day was broken and

^Inferno, xxxii. 78-111.

2 Two flagstaffs, said to be those of the Florentine Carroccio capturedat Montaperti, are preserved in the Cathedral of Siena.

DEFEAT OF THE FLORENTINES 25

destroyed the ancient people of Florence, which had con-

tinued in so great power and estate, and with so great

victories, for the space of ten years." ^

The victorious Sienese returned into their city "with

great triumph and glory, to the utter shame and disgrace

and confusion of the dogs of Florentines," the procession

being headed by the Florentine envoy seated on an ciss,

with his face to its tail, which he held as a bridle, and

dragging behind him in the mud the standard of the

commonwealth of Florence.^

^Villani, bk. vi. ch. 78.

2 From a contemporary account by a Sienese chronicler.

CHAPTER III

1261-1267

Flight of the Guelfs from Florence—Farinata degli Uberti saves

Florence from destruction—The Ghibellines supreme in Tuscany—De-

feat of Manfred at Benevento by Charles of Anjou—Flight of Guido

Novello and the Ghibelline allies from Florence—Guy de Montfort arrives

in Florence as Charles' vicar—Guelf supremacy finally re-established.

THE news of the terrible disaster at Montaperti was re-

ceived in Florence with the utmost consternation,

" and there arose so great a lamentation both of men and

women that it reached to the heavens, inasmuch as there

was not a house in the city that had not one killed or a

prisoner".! Xhe Guelfs did not wait to be driven out, but

hastily fled with their families to Lucca, abandoning the

city of Florence to its fate. " And for this desertion the

Guelfs were greatly to be blamed, seeing that the city of

Florence was strongly fortified with walls and with moats

full of water, and might well have been defended and held.

But the judgment of God must needs run its course with-

out let in the punishment of wickedness ; and to whomGod intends ill, him He deprives of wisdom and fore-

thought. And the Guelfs having departed on the Thurs-

day, on the Sunday following, being the sixteenth day of

September, the exiles from Florence who had taken part

in the battle at Montaperti, together with Count Giordano

and his German troops, and the other soldiers of the

1 Villani, bk. vi. ch. 79.

26

FARINATA DEGLl UBERTI

Frojn the faivti*!}; by Andrea del Caslngiio, in the Museo Kazionale af Florenci

FARINATA SAVES FLORENCE 27

Tuscan Ghibellines, laden with the spoils of the Florentines

and other Guelfs of Tuscany, entered into the city of

Florence without hindrance of any kind; and immedi-

ately they appointed Guido Novello, of the Counts Guidi,

Podest^ of Florence for King Manfred, for the term of two

years from the following January." ^

The whole of Tuscany, with the exception of Lucca,

was now in the hands of the Ghibellines, who proceeded

to hold a great council of their party at Empoli, about

twenty miles from Florence, for the purpose of establishing

a Ghibelline league. At this council it was proposed bythe deputies from Siena and Pisa, the two most bitter

enemies of Florence, that in order effectually to secure the

ascendancy of the Ghibelline party, and to put an end

once and for all to the power of the Florentines, the city

of Florence should be razed to the ground. To this

savage proposal, which was approved by the majority of

the assembly, Farinata degli Uberti offered the most

determined opposition, declaring that he would defend his

native city with his own sword as long as he had breath in

his body, even though he should have to do it single-

handed.^ In consequence of this vehement protest the

proposal was abandoned. Count Giordano fearing lest

Farinata and his following should withdraw from the

league and so lead to the break up of the Ghibelline party

in Tuscany. " And thus by one good man and citizen,"

says Villani, " our city of Florence escaped so great fury,

and destruction, and ruin." ^

After their great victory at Montaperti the Ghibellines

remained in undisputed possession of Florence, and of all


* Villani, bk. vi. ch. 81 ; Inferno, a. gi-3.



the other cities of Tuscany, save Lucca alone, which nowbecame the stronghold of the exiled Guelfs. The latter,

however, were hot allowed to remain long in their place of

refuge. The Florentine Ghibellines, finding them trouble-

some neighbours, and learning that they were intriguing

with the young Conradin, King Manfred's nephew, sent

two successive expeditions with the forces of the Tuscan

league, under Count Guido Novello, against Lucca, and

forced the Lucchese to expel the refugees from their city

(1263). The unhappy Guelfs, deprived of their last foot-

hold in Tuscany, fled across the Apennines to Bologna,

and with their departure " there remained neither townnor castle, little or great, throughout Tuscany but was sub-

ject to the Ghibellines "}

The period of Ghibelline ascendancy, however, was

not destined to be a long one. Within a few years the

tide of fortune had once more turned against them. Their

champion and protector. King Manfred, to whose assistance

they owed their triumph at Montaperti, while at the height

of his power was suddenly overthrown, and the Ghibelline

party was involved in his ruin.

In the spring of 1265 Charles of Anjou, brother of the

French king, entered Italy at the invitation of the Pope(Clement IV), as the champion of Holy jChurch and of

the Guelf cause, to take possession of the kingdom of

Sicily, which the Pope declared to have been forfeited byManfred. Having collected a large force, Charles in the

following January was crowned King of Sicily and Apuliaat Rome, and immediately afterwards set out to invadeManfred's dominions. Manfred was prepared to make a

stubborn resistance, and on 26 February, 1266,^ the two


"According to the reckoning of the Florentines, whose year began on25 March, this was 26 February, 1265. See p. 36, note 3.

BATTLE OF BENEVENTO 29

armies met at Benevento, about thirty miles north-east

from Naples. Manfred's force was in three divisions,

consisting of his Saracen archers, German cavalry, and a

reserve of Apulian barons. The French army was in four

divisions, one of which was composed of the Guelf exiles

from Florence and other Tuscan cities, under the leader-

ship of Guido Guerra. At the sight of these last Manfred

is said to have exclaimed bitterly : Where are the

Ghibellines for whom I have done so much ? " His Ger-

mans and Saracens fought with desperate valour, but were

outnumbered by the French. Manfred accordingly or-

dered the Apulian barons to charge, but they, either

through cowardice or treachery, instead of obeying, turned

and fled from the field. With a handful of troops whostill remained faithful, Manfred resolved to die rather than

seek safety in flight, and plunging into the thickest of the

fight, he fell dead in the midst of the enemy.^

The defeat and death of Manfred was a crushing blow

to the Ghibelline cause, and the eff"ects of it soon began

to be felt throughout Tuscany, and in Florence in partic-

ular. " When the news came to Florence and the rest of

Tuscany of the discomfiture of Manfred, the Ghibellines

began to lose heart and to be afraid in every part. Andthe Guelf exiles from Florence, who were outlawed,

everywhere began to grow stronger and to take heart and

courage ; and they drew close to the city, and, in concert

with their friends inside who had an understanding with

them, they made plots for a change and for a new state of

affairs within the city, for they had hopes from the Guelfs

who had taken part in King Charles' victory, whom they

looked for to come to their aid together with some of the

French. Wherefore the people of Florence, who were at

heart more Guelf than Ghibelline, by reason of the losses

'Villani, bk. vii. ch. g.


they had received, one of his father, another of his son,

and another of his brothers, at the defeat at Montaperti,

likewise began to take courage ; and they murmured and

complained throughout the city of the expenses and heavy

burdens which were laid on them by Count Guido Novello

and by the others who were ruling the city.

" Seeing this, and hearing the tumult and murmuring

throughout the city, the rulers, for fear the people should

rise against them, in order to content them and by way

of compromise elected two knights of the Jovial Friars of

Bologna to hold the office of Podestel in Florence,^ one of

whom was a Guelf, and the other a Ghibelline. And they

ordained thirty-six good men, merchants and handicrafts-

men of the greatest and best in the city, the which were

to give counsel to the said two, and were to make provision

for the expenses of the commonwealth; and, of this

number were both Guelfs and Ghibellines, both of the

people and of the trusty nobles, such as had remained

in Florence when the Guelfs were driven out. And the

said thirty-six met together every day to take counsel for

the good estate and common weal of the city ; and they

made many good ordinances for the welfare of the

commonwealth, among the which they ordained that each

of the seven greater Arts ^ in Florence should have a col-

lege and consuls, and that each should have its ownbanner and ensign, in order that, if there were any rising

in the city with force of arms, they might assemble under

their banners for the defence of the people and of the

commonwealth.

' Hitherto the ofSce had always been filled by a single individual. Thenames of the two were Catalano de' Malavolti and Loderingo degli Andalo,

the former a Guelf, the latter a Ghibelline. Cf. Inferno, xxiii. 103-8.

" These were, the judges and notaries ; the merchants of Calimala, i.e.

of French cloths ; the money-changers ; the wool-workers ; the physicians

and apothecaries ; the silk-workers and mercers ; and the furriers.

DISSENSIONS IN FLORENCE 31

" Now by reason of these changes which were made in

the city of Florence by the two Podesta and the said

thirty-six, the noble Ghibelline houses of Florence, to wit

the Uberti, and the Lamberti, and the rest of the Ghibel-

line nobles, began to fear for their party ; for it seemed to

them that the thirty-six supported and favoured the

Guelfs of the people who had remained in Florence, and

that every change was against the Ghibelline party. Byreason of this fear, and because of the news of the victory

of King Charles, Count Guido Novello sent for help to all

their allies near at hand, namely to Pisa, and Siena, and

Arezzo, and Pistoja, and Prato, and Volterra, and Colle,

and San Gemignano, so that, together with six hundred

Germans, they mustered in Florence fifteen hundred horse-

men in all. And it came to pass that in order to pay the

German troops which were with Count Guido Novello, as

captain of the league, he demanded that a levy should be

made of ten per cent. ; but the thirty-six looked for someother means of finding the money, which should be less

of a burden to the people. For this cause, when they had

delayed some days longer than seemed good to the Count

and the other Ghibelline nobles of Florence, by reason of

the suspicion they felt concerning the ordinances made bythe people, the said nobles determined to raise a tumult

in the city, and to do away the office of the thirty-six,

with the help of the great body of horsemen which the

Count had in Florence.

" And when they had taken arms, the first who began

were the Lamberti, who with their men-at-arms cameout from their houses in the Calimala ^ shouting : Whereare the thirty-six, the robbers, that we may cut them all

in pieces ? And the said thirty-six were at that time in

' The Calimala was the street which connected the Mercato Vecchio

with the Mercato Nuovo. In it were located the cloth-merchants.


council in the warehouse where the consuls of the Calimala

administered justice, below the house of the Cavalcanti in

the Mercato Nuovo ; and hearing this they broke up the

council, and in a moment the whole city was in a tumult,

and the shops were shut, and every one rushed to arms.

The people all assembled together in the wide street of

Santa Trinita, in very great numbers, and they took their

stand by the house of the Soldanieri, and put up barricades

at the foot of the tower the Girolami. Count Guido Novello,

with all the horsemen, and the Ghibelline nobles of Flor-

ence, was in arms and mounted in the Piazza of San

Giovanni; and they moved out against the people, and

drew up in front of the barricade and made some show

and attempt at fighting, but the people held their ground,

defending themselves with crossbows, and shooting from

the towers and houses. And Count Guido, seeing that

they could not dislodge the people, gave the signal to retire,

and went back with all the horsemen to the Piazza of SanGiovanni ; and from there he went to the palace of the

Podesti and demanded the keys of the city-gates in order

that they might get out of the city. And the two Podest^

cried out from the palace to those who were with the Countthat he should return to his house and not depart from the

city, and that they would quiet the people and would see

that the soldiers were paid. But the Count, being in great

dread and suspicion of the people, would not listen, but

would have only the keys of the gates. And this was a

proof that it was the work of God, and no other cause

;

for this great and powerful body of horsemen had not beenattacked, nor driven out, nor disbanded, nor was there anyforce to oppose them ; for although the people were armedand collected together, this was more from fear than to

attack the Count and his horsemen, and they would soonhave been quieted, and would have returned to their homes

FLIGHT OF GUIDO NOVELLO 33

and have laid down their arms. But when the judgment

of God is ripe, the occasion is ever at hand. And after

the Count had received the keys, he went out with all

his horsemen by the old ox-gate, and made for Prato,

where they came in the evening; and this was on St.

Martin's Day, the eleventh of November, in the year of

Christ 1266." 1

When Count Guido and his forces were safe in Prato

they began to realize that they had committed an act of

folly in leaving Florence without striking a blow, and they

determined to return the next day. But the Florentines

were in no mood to throw away their advantages and risk

exposing themselves once more to the Count's vengeance;

so that when he and his horsemen presented themselves in

the morning at the gate of the Carraja bridge, and de-

manded admission to the city, they were met with a refusal

;

and when they made an attempt to force the gate they

were shot at and many of them wounded ; and at last,

neither threats nor persuasions being of any avail, they

were obliged to retreat. " And when they reached Prato

they bitterly reproached one another ; but after a thing

ill-advised and worse done, repentance is in vain." '

The Florentines now dismissed the two Bolognese from

the office of Podesti, and sent to Orvieto for a Podesta

and Captain of the People, who arrived with a guard of a

hundred horsemen for the protection of the city. " Andby a treaty of peace in the following January both

Guelfs and Ghibellines were restored to Florence, and

many marriages and alliances were made between them,

among which these were the chief : Bonaccorso Bellincioni

degli Adimari igave for wife to M. Forese, his son, the

daughter of Count Guido Novello; and M. Bindo, his

brother, took one of the Ubaldini ; and M. Cavalcante de'

1 Villani, bk. vii. ch. 13-14. ^ Villani, bk. vii, ch, 15,

3


Cavalcanti gave for wife to Guido, his son, the daughter of

M. Farinata degli Uberti ; ^ and M. Simone Donati gave

his daughter to M. AzzoHno, son of M. Farinata degli

Uberti.

" But by reason of these alliances the other Guelfs of

Florence held all these as doubtful members of the party

;

wherefore this peace lasted but a short time, for when the

Guelfs had returned to Florence, feeling themselves

powerful, and emboldened by the victory which they and

King Charles had gained over Manfred, they sent secretly

into Apulia to the said King Charles for troops and for a

captain. And the king sent Count Guy of Montfort, with

eight hundred French horsemen, who arrived in Florence

on Easter Day in the year of Christ 1267. And whenthe Ghibellines heard of his coming, the night before,

they departed out of Florence without stroke of sword,

and went, some to Siena, some to Pisa, and some to other

places. And the Florentine Guelfs gave the lordship of

their city to King Charles for ten years ; and he accepted

it ; and for the exercise thereof he sent year by year his

vicars, that together with twelve good men, citizens of

Florence, his vicar should govern the city. And be it

noted that the expulsion of the Ghibellines at this time

was on the same day, namely Easter Day, whereon they

had committed the murder of M. Buondelmonte dei

Buondelmonti, from which arose the factions of the Guelfs

and Ghibellines in Florence, and laid waste the city ; andit seemed to be a judgment from God, for never more did

the Ghibellines return to power in Florence." ^

1 Farinata had died in Florence about two years before. The name ofhis daughter was Beatrice; the actual date of her marriage to GuidoCavalcanti, by which they had two children, is unknown. Guido at the

time of the betrothal cannot have be?n m(jre than seventeen, at the outside.2 Villani, bk. vii. ch. i|.

GUELF SUPREMACY IN TUSCANY 35

" And at the same time that the city of Florence cameinto the hands of the Guelfs, and the Ghibellines were

driven out, and King Charles' vicar came into Tuscany,

many of the cities of Tuscany likewise returned to the

Guelf party and drove out the Ghibellines, namely, the

cities of Lucca, and of Pistoja, and Volterra, and Prato,

and San Gemignano, and Colle ; and they made a league

with the Florentines, whereof the head was King Charles'

vicar, with eight hundred French horsemen ; and there

remained to the Ghibelline party only the cities of Pisa

and of Siena. And in so short space of time, by reason

of the defeat of King Manfred and of the victory of KingCharles, was the state of affairs changed in Tuscany and

in many cities of Lombardy, which from being on the side

of the Ghibellines and of the Empire passed over to the

side of the Guelfs and of the Church." ^

^Villani, bk. vii. ch. 20.

PART II

DANTE IN FLORENCE

CHAPTER I

I 265- I 290

Dante's birth and ancestry—His father and mother—Cacciaguida

—

Geri del Bello—Beatrice Portinari—Episodes in the Vita Nuova—Folco Portinari—Death of Beatrice—Poetical correspondence with Cino

da Pistoja, Guido Cavalcanti, and Forese Donati.

DANTE ALIGHIERIi ^^s bom in Florence in

May, ^ 1265, a few months before, and, according

to the Florentine reckoning,' in the same year as, the

great victory of Charles of Anjou over King Manfred at

Benevento, which ruined the Ghibelline cause, and once

more restored the Guelf supremacy in Florence and

throughout Tuscany. Dante's family were Guelfs.* This

' See Genealogical Table at end of volume (Appendix A).

2 From the reference in Paradiso, xxii. no ff. it follows that Dante

must have been born towards the end of the month, at any rate later than

the 2ist (see Casini, in loc).

5 The battle of Benevento, according to our reckoning, was fought on

26 February, 1266 ; but as the Florentine year began on 25 March, ac-

cording to their reckoning it was fought on 26 February, 1265. The date

according to both styles is indicated by writing 26 February, I26f , where

the lower figure represents the modern, and the upper figure the old, methodof reckoning.

^ It may be noted that Dante's intimacies were for the most part amongthe Guelfs : his mentor, Brunetto Latino, was a Guelf; his friend, Guido

36

DANTE S HOUSE IN FLORENCE

ANCESTRY OF DANTE 37

he himself tells us in the Divina Commedia, in his ac-

count of his conversation with the Ghibelline Farinata

degli Uberti in Hell. Dante having answered Farinata's

question as to who were his forefathers, Farinata says

:

"They were fierce foes of me and of my fathers and of

my party, so that twice we scattered them" (i.e. in 1248

and 1260). To which Dante retorts: " If my side were

driven out twice from Florence both times they returned

(i.e. in 1251 and 1266), which your side have not been

able to do "}

Dante's father, whose name was Alighiero, lived in the

quarter of San Martino del Vescovo ;^ he was the son of

Bellincione degli Alighieri, and was descended, as is sup-

posed, from the ancient and noble family of the Elisei,

who lived in the Sesto di Porta San Piero in Florence.

Boccaccio goes so far as to trace Dante's descent from the

noble Frangipani family of Rome, but of this connection

Cavalcanti, was a Guelf; his wife, Gemma Donati, was a Guelf ; and his

uncle Burnetto fought on the Guelf side at the battle of Montaperti.

Further, according to Filippo Villani (in the preface to his Latin com-

mentary on the first canto of the Inferno, cap. xxii.), Dante was inti-

mate with Filippo's uncle, Giovanni Villani, the chronicler, who was a

staunch Guelf: " Patruus meus Johannes Villani hystoricus . . . Danti

fuit amicus et sotius." On the other hand, his mother is conjectured to

have belonged to the Ghibelline family of the Abati ; while his stepmother

was one of the Guelf Cialuffi.

' Inferno, x. 42-51.

^See p. 38, note 3. The house in which Dante is supposed to have

been born is still preserved. It is situated in what is now known as the

Via Dante Alighieri, a continuation of the Via Tavolini, which starts from

the Via Calzaioli, a little above Or San Michele, and leads at right angles

into the Via de' Cerchi, on the opposite side of which begins the Via

Dante. Doubts have been raised of late as to whether this could be the

house in which Dante was born. M. Barbi, however, shows that the

" case degli AUghieri " were certainly situated on the spot indicated, and

he holds that the traditional site of the actual house of Dante may be ac-

cepted as practically correct (see BuHeitino della Societd Dantesca

Italiana, N.S. (1904), xi. 258-60 ; and (1905), xii. 314-20).

38 DANTE IN FLORENCE

we have no evidence. His connection with the Elisei, on

the other hand, seems ftiardlj^ doubtful. Several names

occur among Dante's ancestry which are common amongthe Elisei, and one of his ancestors, who is mentioned in

the Divina Commedia, actually bore the name of Eliseo.^

The name of Dante's mother was Bella, but it is not

known for certain to what family she belonged. There are

grounds for believing that she was the daughter of

Durante, son of Scolaio degli Abati (a Ghibelline family.)

;

in which case there can be little doubt that Dante's

Christian name (a contraction of Durante) was derived

from his maternal grandfather. Dante's father was a

notary.^ He was twice married, and died when his son

was about eighteen.^ Bella, who died in or before 1278,

was Alighiero's first wife, and Dante was their only child.

By his second wife, Lapa, daughter of Chiarissimo Cialuffi,*

Alighiero had three children, a son Francesco,^ who sur-

vived his half-brother Dante more than twenty years, a

daughter Tana (i.e. Gaetana),® and another daughter,'^

^ Paradiso, xv. 136. Eliseo was the brother of Dante's great-grea t-

grandfather, Cacciaguida, who had another brother called Moronto, one

of the Elisei names.2 His name occurs at the foot of three documents, one dated 1239, the

other two 1256, as " Alagerius ymperiali auctoritate index atque

notarius " (see Scherillo, Alcuni Cafitoli delta Biografia di Dante,

p. II).

* Dante is mentioned in a document dated 1283 as "the heir of his

father, the late Alighieri" ("Dante del gi^ Alighieri del popolo di S.

Martino del Vescovo, come herede del padre, vende," etc.) (see Bul-

lettino delta Society Dantesca Italiana, No. 5-6 (i8gi), p. 40).

'' Both Lapa and Bella are mentioned in a document relating to the

Alighieri family, dated 16 May, 1332, at which date Lapa was still alive

(see Scherillo, Alcuni Capitoti delta Biografia di Dante, p. 29).

^See p. 39, note 2. ^ See p. 39, note 2.

'This half-sister of Dante's is supposed to be the " donna giovane e

gentile, la quale era meco di propinquissima sanguinita congiunta" of

Vita Nuova, § 23, 11. 86, 95-6.

THE ALIGHIERI FAMILY 39

name unknown, who married one Leon Poggi. A son of

this Leon Poggi, called Andrea, was an intimate friend of

Boccaccio, who says that he bore a remarkable resem-

blance to his uncle Dante both in face and figure. FromAndrea Poggi Boccaccio learned many details ahout

Dante's habits and manner of life.

Dante's father can hardly have been a person of muchconsequence in Florence ; Otherwise, as a Guelf, he would

have shared the exile of his party after the disastrous de-

feat of the Florentine Guelfs at Montaperti (4 September,

1260), which, from the fact that Dante was born in

Florence in 1265, it would appear that he did not do. Atany rate if he did leave Florence on that occasion he must

have returned before the rest of his party, since the re-

storation of the Guelfs did not take place, as has been re-

lated in a former chapter, until January, 1267.^ The only

contemporary references to Alighiero occur in a poetical

(and not very edifying) correspondence (or tenzone) ^ be-

tween Dante and his friend Forese Donati, from whose

expressions it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that

Dante's father was either a personal coward or of little

moral worth.

Judging from the position of their house in the heart of

the city, and from Dante's own allusions in the Divina

Commedia^ the Alighieri would seem to have been a

noble family, as nobility went in those days. The fact

that they are not mentioned by Giovanni Villani in his

several lists of the important Guelf families of Florence *

1 Villani, bk. vii. ch. 15. See above, p. 33.

"Dante's half-brother and sister, Francesco and Tana, are also

mentioned by Forese in this tenzone, which is printed in the third edition

of the Oxford Dante (1904), pp. 179-80.

2 Paradiso, xv. 40-5 ; Inferno, xv. 74-8.

* Villani, bk. v. ch. 39; bk. vi. ch. 33, 79.


may be accounted for on the ground that though of

"ancient and honourable lineage,"^ they were neither

wealthy nor numerous.

Nothing is known for certain of any of Dante's ancestors

further back than his great-great-grandfather, Cacciaguida,

whose existence is attested by a document dated 9 De-

cember, 1 189, in which his two sons, Preitenitto and Ali-

ghiero,^ bind themselves to remove a fig tree growing

against the wall of the Church of San Martino. In another

document recently discovered, and dated 28 April, 1 13 1

,

appears the name of a Cacciaguida, son of Adamo,^ whoon plausible grounds has been identified with Dante's

ancestor ; in which case our knowledge of Dante's ancestry

goes back one generation further. Cacciaguida's history,

in so far as we are acquainted with it, is related in the

Divina Corn-media,*' where we are told that he was born

in Florence in the Sesto di Porta San Piero about the year

1090 ifthat he belonged (as is supposed) to the Elisei,

one of the old Florentine families which boasted Romandescent) that he was baptized in the Baptistery of SanGiovanni in Florence ; that he had two brothers, Moronto

and Eliseo ; that his wife came from the valley of the Po^probably from Ferraraj, and that from her, through his

son, Dante got his surname of Alighieri;[that he followed

the Emperor Conrad III on the Second Crusade] andwas knighted by him; and finally that he fell fighting

against the infidel fabout the year 1147) Cacciaguida in-

dicates ^ the situation of the house in which he and his

ancestors lived in Florence as being " in the place where

^Villani, bk. ix. ch. 136.2" Preitenittus et Alaghieri fratres, filii olim Cacciaguide " (see E.

Frullani e G. Gargani, Delia Casa di Dante, p. 29).

^"Cacciaguide filii Adami" (see Davidsohn, Geschichte von Florenz,i. 440 n.).

*Paradiso, xv. ig-xvi. 45. ^ Paradiso, xvi. 40-2.

CACCIAGUIDA'S DESCENDANTS 41

the last sextary is first attained by him who runs in the

yearly horse-race," i.e. on the boundary of the district

known later as the Sesto di Porta San Piero.^

By his wife, Alighiera degli Alighieri, Cacciaguida had

two sons, already mentioned, namely, Preitenitto and

Alighiero. The latter (who it seems, according to Pietro

di Dante,^ Dante's eldest son, married a sister of "la

buona Gualdrada" of Inferno, xvi. 37, and daughter

of Bellincion Berti of Paradiso, xv. 112; xvi. 99) in

his turn had two sons, one of whom, Bellincione, was

Dante's grandfather ; while the other, Bello (i.e. Gabriello),

was the father of the Geri del Bello, in connection with

whom Dante alludes in the Divina Commedia^ to a

piece of family history, which shows that the Vendetta

was a recognized institution in Florence in those days,

and moreover that it was approved by Dante. It appears

that Geri was a turbulent and quarrelsome person, and had

^ The house of the Elisei stood not far from the junction of the Mer-

cato Vecchio and the Corso, apparently just at the angle formed on the

north side of the present Via de' Speziali by its intersection with the Via

Calzaioli. The Sesto di Porta San Piero appears to have been the last

of the city divisions to be traversed by the competitors in the yearly horse-

race, who entered the city probably at the Porta San Pancrazio, close to

where the Palazzo Strozzi now stands, crossed the Mercato Vecchio, and

finished in the Corso, which was thence so called.

^ In the later recension of his commentary on the Commedia in a

note on Paradiso, xvi. 97-9, he writes: " de quibus Ravegnanis

descenderunt, scilicet de dicto domino Bellincione de dicta domo, comites

Guidones, ... ex domina Gualdrada ejus filia ; cujus tres alie filie nupte

sunt una in domo illorum de Donatis, alia in domo illorum de Adimaribus,

alia in domo hujus auctoris, scilicet illorum de Alagheriis. Que tres domusjam multos habuerunt a dicto domino Bellincione nominatos Bellintiones "

(see L. Rocca : Del commento di Pietro di Dante alia D. C. contenuto

nel codice Ashburnham 841, in Giornale Storico delta letteratura italiana,

vii. 366-85). Pietro's statement is confirmed by the fact that one of

Alighiero's sons, Dante's grandfather, was named Bellincione (see

Table in Appendix A).

^Inferno, xxix. 3-36.


stirred up bad blood among certain members of the Sac-

chetti family of Florence, one ofwhom retaliated by killing

him. His murder had not been avenged at the time

Dante wrote, and consequently Dante represents him as

regarding himself, when they met in Hell, with a threaten-

ing and indignant mien because of this neglect on the part

of his kindred. Subsequently, more than thirty years

after the event, and quite possibly as a result of Dante's

allusion to the incident, Geri's death was avenged by his

nephews, who murdered one of the Sacchetti in his ownhouse. This blood-feud between the Alighieri and the

Sacchetti lasted till 1 342, when an act of reconciliation ^

was entered into between the two families at the instance

of the Duke of Athens, the guarantor on the part of the

Alighieri being Dante's half-brother, Francesco, who ap-

peared on behalf of himself, and his two nephews, Dante's

two sons, Pietro and Jacopo.

Bellincione, the son of Alighiero, had four sons, of

whom the eldest, Alighiero, was Dante's father; the

youngest, Brunetto, took part in the battle of Montaperti,

where he was in charge of the Florentine Carroccio.

That Dante was born in Florence we know from his

own statements several times repeated in his works, the

most explicit of which occurs in the Divina Comviedia ^

where he says :" I was born and bred up in the great city

on the fair river Arno ". We know from himself too that,

like his ancestor Cacciaguida, he was baptized in the

ancient Baptistery of San Giovanni.* Years afterwards,

he tells us,* he was instrumental in breaking tlie-fe»t for

' The record of this act is still preserved (see Dante Dictionary

,

s.v. Bello, Geri del).

^Inferno, xxiii. 94-5. In the Convivio (i. 3, 11. 21-5), he speaks

of " that most beautiful and most famous daughter of Rome, Florence,

where I was born and bred up until the climax of my life "-

' Paradiso, xxv. 8-g. * Inferno, xix. 17-21.

BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI AT FLORENCE

BEATRICE PORTINARI 43

the purpose of rescuing from suffocation a small boy ^ whohad fallen into one of the circular spaces at the side, where

the officiating priest stood during baptisms in order to

escape the pressure of the crowd.

^

Of the history of Dante's early years we know little be-

yond the episode of his love for Beatrice, which is narrated

in the Vita Nuova. Dante says that he first saw

Beatrice when she was at the beginning of her ninth year,

and he had nearly completed his ninth year, that is to say

in the spring of 1274. "Her dress on that day," he

narrates,' "was of a most noble colour, a subdued and

goodly crimson, girdled and adorned in such sort as

best suited her very tender age." At the moment whenhe saw her Dante's heart was possessed by a passionate

love for her, which from that time forward, he declares,

completely mastered his soul. Boccaccio, who probably

had the information from one of the Portinari family,*

and (quite independently) Dante's own son, Pietro, tell us

that this Beatrice was the daughter of Folco Portinari, a

highly respected and influential citizen of Florence. Boc-

caccio gives the following description of the scene of their

1 The name of the boy is given by one of the early commentators as

Antonio di Baldinaccio de' Cavicciuli, a member of a branch of the

Adimari family which was especially hostile to Dante. The font which

Dante broke is said to have been removed in 1576, by the Grand DukeFrancesco I de' Medici, on the occasion of the baptism of his son Philip.

The present font was placed where it stands in 1658, but it is the work of

an earlier period.

^ As baptisms used to take place only on two days in the year, on the

eves of Easter and Pentecost, and in the Baptistery alone, the crowd on

these occasions must have been very great. Villani, Dante's contemporary,

says (bk. xi, ch. 94) that in his time the yearly baptisms averaged between

five and six thousand ; the numbers were checked by means of beans—

a

black one for every male, a white one for every female.

^ Vita Nuova, § 2, II. 15-18.

* See Del Lungo, Beatrice nella Vita e nella Poesia del Secolo xiii,

pp. 49-52.


first meeting, as he, with his intimate knowledge of

Florence and of Florentine ways, imagines it to have

taken place :

—

" In that season of the year when the tender heavens

clothe the earth once more with its adornments, and makeit everywhere smile with many-coloured flowers mingled

with green leaves, it was the custom in our city for the

men and women of the several districts to hold festival

together in companies, each in his own.^ Wherefore it

came to pass that, among the rest, Folco Portinari, a manmuch in honour at that time among his fellow-citizens, had

on the first of May assembled his neighbours for a festival

at his own house. Among the company was the Alighiero

of whom we have spoken, attended (as children are wontto attend their parents, especially on festal occasions) byDante, who had not yet completed his ninth year. Andit befell that mingling here with the others of his own age,

both boys and girls, of whom there were many in the

house of the giver of the feast, after the first course hadbeen served, in childish fashion he began to play with the

others in such wise as befitted his tender years. Amongthe crowd of children was a daughter of the aforesaid

Folco, whose name was Bice (although Dante always

called her by her full name Beatrice), and who was then

about eight years old. She was very graceful and pretty

in her girlish way, and very gende and pleasing in her

manners, and more grave and modest in her demeanourand speech than might have been expected of her years.

Besides this the features of her face were very delicate

and regular, and full not only of beauty but of such come-liness and charm that by many she was held to be little

short of an angel. She then, such as I describe her, or,

it may be, far more beautiful, appeared at this feast, not as

' Cf. Villani, bk. vii. ch. 132 (ad fin.).

DANTE AND BEATRICE 45

I suppose for the first time, but for the, first time with the

power to kindle love, before the eyes of our Dante, who,

though still a boy, received into his heart the beauteous

image of her with so great affection that from that day

forward, so long as he lived, it never departed from him." ^

Nine years later, when they were both in their eighteenth

year, that is to say in 1283, Dante saw Beatrice dressed

all in pure white, walking in the street between two ladies

older than herself On this occasion she turned her eyes

upon Dante, and saluted him. After this greeting, which;

he says, seemed to reveal to him the utmost limits of happi-

ness, Dante retired to the solitude of his own chamber and

sat himself down to think of Beatrice. And as he sat

thinking he fell asleep, and had a marvellous vision,

whereon he composed a sonnet beginning

" To every captive soul, and gentle heart," ^

which is his earliest known composition. This sonnet he

sent to various famous poets of the day, and among those

from whom he received replies was Guido Cavalcanti, whofrom this time became Dante's most intimate friend.'

Later on, Dante meanwhile, in order to conceal his love for

Beatrice, having paid attentions to another lady, Beatrice

denied him her salutation, which plunged him into the deep-

est grief.* The next time he saw her was at a wedding-

feast, whither he had been taken by a friend, and on this

occasion his emotion so overcame him that his confusion

was remarked, and the ladies, including Beatrice herself,

whispered and mocked at him, whereupon his friend,

' Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 3, pp. 13-15. This work wasprobably written between 1357 and 1362 (see O. Hecker, Boccaccio-

Funde, p. 154 ».).

^ " A ciascun' alma presa e gentil core."

' Vita Nuova, § 3. •* Vita Nuova, § 10.


perceiving his distress, led him from the house.^ This

episode may perhaps be connected with the marriage of

Beatrice Portinari, to which Dante never directly refers in

the Vita Nuova, but which is known to have taken

place before the year 1288, her husband being Simone de'

Bardi,^ a member of one of the great banking-houses of

Florence.*

Not long after this Dante learned of the death of

Beatrice's father, Folco Portinari, whom he describes as a

man " of exceeding goodness," * and who was a personage

of no little importance in Florence, for he had held high

office in the city, and had several times served as Prior.*

' Vita Nuova, § 14.

2 This marriage (which Del Lungo thinks took place as early as 1283),

like many others of that period, was probably political, that is to say, it

was a " matrimonial alliance," not in any sense a marriage of affection

(see Del Lungo, op. cit. pp. 13-14, 66-7).

^ The Bardi, who were Guelfs, were of European celebrity as bankers.

They had extensive relations with Edward III, through whose default

they failed, together with several other important Florentine houses, in

1345, twenty-four years after Dante's death. Edward's debt to the Bardi

amounted to nearly a million gold florins.

^ Vita Nuova, § 22, 11. 1-18.

^ Folco Portinari had been one of the fourteen " Buonomini " instituted

in 1281 by Cardinal Latino ; and he subsequently three tiipes (in 1282,

1285, and 1287) held the office of Prior. He died on 31 December, 1289,

and was buried in the chapel of the hospital founded by himself, his

funeral being honoured by the official attendance of the Signoria of Flor-

ence. The monument erected over his tomb is still preserved, though not

in its original site. The inscription oniit runs as follows:

—

" Hie iacet Fulchus de Portinariis qui fuit fundator et edificator uius

ecclesie et ospitalis S. Marie Nove et decessit anno MCCLXXXIX die

XXXI decembris. Cuius anima pro Dei misericordia requiescat in pace "

(Del Lungo, op. cit. pp. 8-g).

Folco married Cilia di Gherardo de' Caponsacchi of Florence, and hadby her ten children (five sons and five daughters) besides Beatrice, who are

all mentioned by name in his will (dated is January, I28f). To the four

unmarried daughters, Vanna, Fia, Margarita, and Castoria, he left eighty

Florentine pounds each for a dowry. To the son of his daughter Ravig-

DEATH OF BEATRICE 47

He was also a great public benefactor, for in June, 1288,

the same year in which he made his will, he had founded

the well-known hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Flor-

ence.' Folco's death, and the grief of Beatrice for him,

brought into Dante's mind the thought that one day

Beatrice herself too must die ; and in a very short time

his forebodings were realised. Beatrice died, within six

months of her father, in June, 1290, just on the completion

of her twenty-fourth year.^ Dante was for a time over-

nana, wife of Bandino Falconieri, he left fifty Florentine pounds; and he

left the like sum to "mistress Bice, his daughter, the wife of Simone de'

Bardi " {Item dotnine Bid etiam filie sue, et uxoH domini Simonis de

Bardis, legavit de bonis suis libras L adflorenos). His five sons, Manetto,

Ricovero, Pigello, Gherardo, and Jacopo (of whom the last three were

minors) were named as residuary legatees. Manetto (d. 1334), Beatrice's

eldest brother, was most probably the near relation of Beatrice who is

mentioned by Dante in the Vita Nuova as being his dearest friend after

Guido Cavalcanti (Vita Nuova, § 33, 11. 2-7 :" Si venne a me uno, il quali,

secondo li gradi dell' amistade, e amico a me immediatamente dopo il

primo : e questi fu tanto distretto di sanguiniti con questa gloriosa, che

nuUo piu presso 1' era "). Manetto, it appears, was also a friend of Guido's,

who addressed a sonnet to him, which has been preserved among Guido's

poems (see Ercole, Guido Cavalcanti e le sue Rime, pp. 145-6, 353, 355).1 The endowment of this hospital is said to have been suggested to

Folco by the then Bishop of Florence, Andrea de' Mozzi (whose nameappears in the deed of foundation)—the same Bishop who is branded byDante in the Inferno (xv. 112-14) as an unclean liver. The deed of

foundation is printed by L. Passerini in Storia degli Stabilimenti di

Beneficenza . . . della Cittct di Firenze (1853), pp. 835-9.

*The exact date on which Beatrice died was 8 June, as follows from

what Dante says in § 30 of the Vita Nuova. His aim is to prove that

the number nine was intimately connected with the day, the month, andthe year of Beatrice's death. As regards the year his statement (11. 7-13)

presents no difficulty—she died in 1290. In order to bring in the numbernine in the case of the month and the day Dante has recourse to the

Syrian and Arabian calendars (" io dico che, secondo 1' usanza d' Arabia,

r anima sua nobilissima si parti nella prima ora del nono giorno del mese

;

e secondo 1' usanza di Siria, ella si parti nel nono mese dell' anno ; perch!

il primo mese h ivi Tisrin primo, il quale a noi e Ottobre "). He says

Beatrice died in the ninth month according to the Syrian reckoning, which


whelmed with grief,^ but after a while he devoted himself

to the study of philosophy, and having thereby regained

his peace of mind, he made the resolve, which is recorded

at the conclusion of the Vita Nuova, that, should his

life be spared, he would write of Beatrice what had never

yet been written of any woman, a resolve which was

carried into execution in the Divina Commedia.

A beautiful canzone on the death of Beatrice was ad-

dressed to Dante by his friend Cino da Pistoja,^ one of the

(as he learned from Alfraganus, his astronomical authority) corresponds

to our sixth month, namely June. The difficulty, therefore, as to her

having died in June, the sixth month according to our reckoning, is got

over by saying that she died in the ninth month according to the Syrian

reckoning. As regards the day, Dante says that she died in the first hour

of the ninth day of the month, according to Arabian usage. Now Alfra-

ganus explains that according to the Arabian usage the day begins, not

at sunrise, as with the Romans and others, but at sunset. If, then, Dante,

in order to get the required connexion between the number nine and the

day of the month on which Beatrice died, was obliged to have recourse to

the Arabian usage, in the same way as he fell back upon the Syrian usage

in the case of the month itself, we are forced to the conclusion that the

actual date of Beatrice's death was not, as has been too hastily assumed,

the ninth of the month, but the evening of the eighth, which according to

the Arabian reckoning would be the beginning of the ninth day (see

Paget Toynbee, Dante Studies and Researches, pp. 61-4).

1 Perhaps it was at this period that Dante, if the tradition mentioned byButi (in his comment on Inf. xvi. 106, and Purg. xxx. 42) is to beaccepted, joined for a time the Franciscan Order. This tradition is held

by some to be confirmed by Dante's reference in the Inferno (xvi. 106-8)

to the cord with which he was girt, the cord being one of the distinctive

marks of the Franciscans, who were hence known as Cordeliers. Somesee a fijrther confirmation of the tradition in the facts that Dante speaks

of the Sun as the "image of God" (Convivio, iii. 12, 1. 54) as did St.

Francis; and that Statius, on meeting Dante and Virgil in Purgatory,

gives them the Franciscan salutation, to which Virgil returns the recog-

nized countersign (Purg. xxi. 12-15). It has also been suggested in

the same connexion that Dante derived his explanation of the fall of the

rocks in Hell (Inf. xii. 1-45 ; xxi. 112-14) from the Franciscan legend,

that the chaotic rocks of La Vemia, where St. Francis received the stig-

mata, were upheaved by the earthquake at the Crucifixion.'' Born in 1270 at Pistoja, where he died in 1336 or 1337,

CINO DA PISTOJA ON BEATRICE 49

" famosi trovatori," to whom Dante had sent his earliest

sonnet. "^ In this canzone, from which it appears that

Dante in his despair had been tempted to seek death,

Cino strives to console him with the thought that Beatrice

is glorified in heaven, where she watches over him and

recalls his devotion to her on earth :

—

How ever shouldst thou see the lovely face

If any desperate death should once be thine ?

From justice so condign

Withdraw thyself even now : that in the end

Thy heart may not offend

Against thy soul, which in the holy place,

In Heaven, still hopes to see her and to be

Within her arms. Let this hope comfort thee.

Look thou into the pleasure wherein dwells

Thy lovely lady who is in Heaven crown'd,

Who is herself thy hope in Heaven, the while

To make thy memory hallowed she avails

;

Being a soul within the deep Heaven bound,

A face on thy heart painted, to beguile

Thy heart of grief, which else should turn it vile.

Even as she seemed a wonder here below.

On high she seemeth so,

—

Yea, better known, is there more wondrous yet.

And evert as she was met

First by the angels with sweet song and smile,

Thy spirit bears her back upon the wing.

Which often in those ways is journeying.

Of thee she entertains the blessed throngs,

And says to them ;" While yet my body thrave

On earth, I gat much honour which he gave,

Commending me in his commended songs "

Also she asks alway of God our Lord

To give thee peace according to His word.'

1 See pp. 45, 159.

^ The whole canzone is translated by D, G. Rossetti in Dante and his

Circle (pp. 184-6), whose version of the concluding portion is printed

above. The original is printed by Carducci in Rime di M. Cino da

Pistoja, Florence, 1862 (pp. 9-12).


Cino, who subsequently wrote a canzone on the death of

Dante himself/ was one of several friends of his youth

with whom Dante held a poetical correspondence. As in

the case of Guido Cavalcanti,^ this friendship doubtless

owed its origin to the fact of Dante's having sent to him

the sonnet referred to above, the iirst in the Vita

Nuova, to which Cino returned a sonnet in reply.' At

least five other sonnets addressed by Cino to Dante have

been preserved/ and two of Dante's to him/ besides a

Latin letter on a subject connected with love.^

Guido Cavalcanti/ one of the most distinguished poets of

the day, and Dante's earliest friend, addressed five sonnets

to Dante* (including his reply to Dante's first sonnet),

mostly on the subject of love; but one of them contains

a severe reproof to Dante for falling away from his former

high standard of life :

—

I come to thee by daytime constantly,

But in thy thoughts too much of baseness find :

Greatly it grieves me for thy gentle mind,

And for thy many virtues gone from thee.

It was thy wont to shun much company,

Unto all sorry concourse ill inclin'd

:

And still thy speech of me, heartfelt and kind,

Had made me treasure up thy poetry.

But novjr I dare not, for thine abject life.

Make manifest that I approve thy rhymes;

Nor come I in such sort that thou raayst know.

Ah I prythee read this sonnet many times :

So shall that evil one who bred this strife

Be thrust from thy dishonoured soul and go.'

' See below, p. 107. ''See above, p. 45.^ Printedby Carducci, op. cit. pp. 4-5; translated by Rossetti, op.cit. p. 183.

*See Carducci, oj>. cit. pp. 103, 106, 108, 116, 117.

' Sonnets xxxiv, xlvi, in the Oxford Dante.* Epist. iv. (see below, p. 248). ' C. 1255-1300.

" See P. Ercole ; Guido Cavalcanti e le sue Rime, Livorno, 1885

(pp. 313. 318, 319-20, 322. 324-5).

' Translated by Rossetti, op. cit. p. 161. For the original, see Ercole,

op. cit. pp. 324-5.

DANTE AND FORESE DONATI 51

It is supposed that Guido is here referring to somemoral lapse on Dante's part, consequent on his alleged

faithlessness to the memory of Beatrice ; ^ but it is possible

that what Guido had in mind was Dante's degrading

intercourse with such company as Forese Donati,^ his

poetical correspondence with whom (written probably

within a year or two of the death of Beatrice) has been

already mentioned.^ The tone of this correspondence, the

authenticity of which has been questioned, but which in

the face of the evidence it is difficult not to accept,* gives

an unpleasing impression both of Forese and of Dante,

teeming as it does with personalities and abusive recrimin-

ations. In after years, we gather, Dante recalled this

episode of his early career with bitter shame. " If thou

bring back to mind," he says to Forese when they meetin Purgatory,

" If thou bring back to mindWhat thou wast once with me, and I with thee,

The recollection will be grievous yet." "

It was to Guido Cavalcanti, while Beatrice was yet alive,

that Dante addressed that charming sonnet (known to

English readers as " The Boat of Love ") ® in which he

imagines Guido, Lapo Gianni, and himself wafted overseas

in a boat with their respective ladies :

—

Guido, I wish that Lapo, thou, and I,

Could be by spells conveyed, as it were now.

Upon a barque, with all the winds that blowAcross all seas at our good will to hie.

So no mischance nor temper of the sky

1 See below, p. 71. ^ Forese died in July, 1296. ' See above, p. 35.

*0n this tenzone, which is printed in the third edition (1904) of the

Oxford Dante (pp. 179-80), see Del Lungo, Dante ne' tempi di Dante,

pp. 437 ff. A translation of four sonnets of the tenzone is given by Ros-

setti, op. cit, pp. 243-5.

' Purgatorio, xidn, 115-17.

* From the title of D. G. Rossetti's picture of the subject.


Should mar our course with spite or cruel slip

;

But we, observing old companionship,

To be companions still should long thereby.

And Lady Joan, and Lady Beatrice,

And her the thirtieth on my roll with us

Should our good wizard set, o'er seas to move

And not to talk of anything but love

;

And they three ever to be well at ease

As we should be, I think, if it were thus.^

' Son. xxxii. ; translated by Rossetti, op. cit. p. 143.

CHAPTER II

1 289-1 290

Military service—War with Arezzo—Battle of Campaldino—Victory

of Florentine Guelfs—Buonconte da Montefeltro—Siege of Caprona

—

" Quomodo sedet sola civitas !"

OF Dante's life outside the limits of the Vita Nuova,

during his first twenty-five years, we get occasional

glimpses, which show that, however deeply absorbed he

may have been in his devotion to Beatrice, he was yet no"love-sick idler". We find him taking his share in the

active duties of family life, and as a patriotic citizen bear-

ing the burden of military service in the field on behalf of

the State. In a document dated 1283 (the same year in

which he records his first public salutation from Beatrice)

his name appears, as the representative of the Alighieri

family, in a matter of business which had been left un-

settled at the death of his father.^ Dante at this time

was eighteen, and, both his father and mother being dead,

according to Florentine usage was of age. Six years

later, we are told, he took part in the war which had broken

out in 1287 between Florence and Arezzo, and was pre-

sent, fighting on the side of the Florentine Guelfs, at their

great victory over the Aretines at Campaldino on 1 1 June,

1289. If we are to accept as authentic the fragment of a

' See Bullettino delta Societd Dantesca Italiana, No. 5-6 (1891), pp.

39-45-

53


letter preserved by one of his biographers,^ this was not

Dante's first experience in the field ; he confesses, never-

theless, that he was at first greatly afraid, but at the end

felt the greatest elation, according to the shifting fortunes

of the day.

This battle of Campaldino was an event of no little im-

portance in the history of Florence. If the Aretines had

been victorious the position of the Florentine Guelfs would

have been seriously endangered. As it was, the result

was a crushing blow to the Ghibellines of Tuscany, whohad made Arezzo their headquarters, whence during the

past few years they had repeatedly raided the Florentine

territory. In June, 1 287, the Aretines, with the help of

the exiled Ghibellines from Florence, expelled the Guelfs

from their city, whereupon the Florentines, in alliance with

the other Guelfs of Tuscany, declared war against Arezzo,

and in June of the following year sent a strong expedition

into their territory, which ravaged the country right up to

the city walls. The Sienese contingent of this expedition,

however, rashly allowed themselves to be intercepted by

the Aretines, who surprised them and cut them to pieces,

the Sienese losing more than 300 killed and wounded.

This success greatly elated the Aretines, and proportion-

ately discouraged the Florentine Guelfs and their allies,

1 Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo, who was secretary of the Florentine Re-

public from 1427 till his death in 1444. In his Vita di Dante he claims

to have seen several letters of Dante in the poet's own handwriting, whichhe describes as being "fine and slender and very accurate" ("era la

lettera sua magra e lunga e molto corretta, secondo io ho veduto in alcune

epistole di sua mano propria scritte " ;—elsewhere, in his Dialogus adPetrum Histrum, speaking of Dante, he says :

" Legi nuper quasdameius litteras, quas ille videbatur peraccurate scripsisse : erant enim propria

manu atque eius sigillo obsignatae"—quoted by Bartoli, Storia delta

Letteratura Italiana, v. 8g). In this letter Dante is represented as saying

that at the battle of Campaldino he was present " not as a child in arms "

(" non fanciuUo nell' armi ").

WAR BETWEEN FLORENCE AND AREZZO 55

who were still further discomfited by the news of the ex-

pulsion of the Guelfs from Pisa, and of the imprisonment

of the Guelf leader, Ugolino della Gherardesca, who in

the following March (i28|) was put to death in the Tower

of Famine.^ Not long after this (at the beginning of May)Charles II of Anjou passed through Florence on his wayto Rome to be crowned King of Naples in succession to

his father. After spending three days in Florence, amid

great rejoicings, he set out to continue his journey to-

wards "Siena. " And when he was departed news came to

Florence that the Aretine forces were making ready to

enter the Sienese territory in order either to intercept or

to bring shame upon Prince Charles, who had only a small

escort of men-at-arms. Immediately the Florentines sent

out their cavalry, consisting of the flower of the citizens

of Florence and of the mercenaries who were in the city,

to the number of eight hundred horsemen, together with

three thousand foot, to escort the said Prince ; and whenthe Aretines heard of it they did not dare to go against

them. And the Florentines asked the Prince to appoint

them a captain of war, and to allow them to carry the

royal standard to battle, and the Prince granted it, and he

knighted Aimeri of Narbonne, a man very noble and brave,

and cunning in war, and gave him to them for their captain.

And Aimeri, with his troop of about one hundred horse-

men, returned to Florence together with the Florentine

force."

2

No sooner were the Florentines returned home than it

was decided without loss of time to send a strong force to

attack the Aretines, in order to exact retribution for their

continued ravages in the territories of Florence and of the

allied Guelfs. On 2 June, 1289, the host marched out,

•Villani, bk. vii. ch. 128; Inferno, xxxiii.

2 Villani, bk. vii. ch. 130.


with the Guelf banners and the royal standard of King

Charles flying, and the bells sounding ;" and there were

assembled sixteen hundred horsemen and ten thousand

foot, whereof six hundred horsemen were citizens of

Florence, the best armed and the best mounted that ever

went out even from Florence, and four hundred mercenaries

together with the men-at-arms of the captain, M. Aimeri,

in the pay of the Florentines ; and from Lucca there were

an hundred and fifty horsemen ; and from Prato forty horse

and foot ; from Pistoja sixty horse and foot ; and from

Siena an hundred and twenty horsemen ; and from Vol-

terra forty horsemen ; and from Bologna their envoys with

their men-at-arms ; and from San Miniato and from SanGemignano, and from CoUe, there came horse and foot

from each place; and Maghinardo of Susinana,^ a good

and wise-captain of war, came with his men from Romagna.And the said host being assembled, they descended into

the plain of Casentino, laying waste the lands of Count

Guido Novello, who was Podesta of Arezzo. And whenthe Bishop of Arezzo heard of this, he and the other

Ghibelline captains, among whom were many of renown,

determined to come with all their force to Bibbiena to pre-

vent its being laid waste ; and they were eight hundred

horsemen and eight thousand foot, all picked men; andamong them were many wise captains of war, the flower

of the Ghibellines of Tuscany, and of the March,^ and of

the Duchy,' and of Romagna, all of them experienced in

arms and warfare. And they challenged the Florentines

to battle, having no fear, although the Florentines hadtwice as many horsemen as they, but they despised them,

1 Maghinardo, though a Ghibelline by birth, supported the Florentine

Guelfs. His political inconsistency is alluded to by Dante, Inferno,

xxvii. 51.

2 Of Ancona. « Of Spoleto.

BATTLE OF CAMPALDINO S7

saying that they tricked themselves out and combed their

tresses like women, laughing at them and holding them

of no account. And the Florentines having joyfully ac-

cepted the gage of battle, the two hosts by common con-

sent drew up their ranks and faced each other in battle

array, more perfectly ordered on both sides than ever were

hosts in Italy before this time ; and the field of battle was

on the plain at the foot of Poppi, in the district called

Certomondo, for so the place is named, and a church of the

Franciscans which is close by, and the plain is called Cam-

paldino. And this was Saturday morning, the eleventh of

June, on the day of St. Barnabas the Apostle." i

Among the Florentine horsemen, according to the ac-

count of Leonardi Bruni,^ was Dante, " who fought vigor-

ously on horseback in the front rank, where he was ex-

posed to very grave danger ; for the first shock of battle

was between the opposing troops of horse, in which the

Aretine cavalry charged the Florentine horsemen with

such fury, that they were borne down, broken and routed,

and driven back upon the foot-soldiers." This rout of

the Florentine cavalry was the cause of the defeat of the

Aretines, whose victorious horsemen pursued the fugitives

so far that their own foot-soldiers were left unsupported

;

consequently the Florentines, having rallied their horse,

were enabled to crush first the Aretine cavalry and then

their foot. Villani gives a detailed account of this im-

portant battle—important to us, owing to Dante's presence,

in a manner in which no one at that time could have fore-

seen—and of the miraculous way in which the tidings of

the victory were brought to Florence.

'Villani, bk. vii. ch. 131.

^ Bruni says that Dante in his letter gave an account of the battle, to-

gether with a plan :" Questa battaglia racconta Dante in una sua epistola,

e dice esservi stato a combattere, e disegna la forma delta battaglia,"

Vita di Dante, ed. Brunone Bianchi, 1883, p. xv.


" M, Aimeri and the other captains of the Florentines

drew up their troops in good order, setting an hundred

and fifty of the best in the host to fight in the front.^ oi

whom twenty were new-made knights, dubbed on the

field. And M. Vieri de' Cerchi being one of the captains,

and being lame of his leg, he would not on that accouni

be excused from fighting in the front : and it falling tc

him to make the choice for his Sesto,^ he would not lay

this burden on any who did not desire it of his own free

will, but chose himself and his son and his nephews. Andthis thing was counted to him as of great merit ; and aftei

his good example, and for very shame, many other noble

citizens set themselves in the fore-front of the host Ancwhen this was done they flanked each wing with light-

armed infantry, and crossbow-men, and foot-soldiers Witt

long lances ; and the main body to the rear of the fore-

front was also flanked by foot-soldiers ; and in the rear o1

all was the baggage drawn up so as to support the mair

body, outside of which were stationed two hundred horse

and foot of the Lucchese and the Pistojans and othei

allies ; the captain of these was M. Corso Donati, at thai

time Podesti of Pistoja, whose orders were, if needful, tc

take the enemy in flank.

" The Aretines on their side ordered their troops skilfully

inasmuch as they had, as we have said, good captains o

war among them ; and they set a strong body to figh

in the front, to the number of three hundred, among whonwere chosen twelve of the chief leaders, whom they style(

the twelve paladins.^ And each side having adoptee

^ It is probable from what Leonardo Bruni says that Dante was amonthese.

' One of the six divisions into which the city of Florence was at thi

time divided.

' Doubtless in allusion to the fact that they were opposed to Aimeri d

Narbonne, a name familiar in the old Chansons de Geste as at one time

foe of Charlemagne and afterwards as one of his doughtiest warriors.

BATTLE OF CAMPALDINO 59

their war-cry, the Florentines ' Nerbona ' and the Are-

tines ' San Donato,' the fore-front of the Aretine horse-

men advanced with great daring at full speed to charge

the host of the Florentines, and their remaining ranks

followed close behind, except that Count Guido Novello,

who was in command of a troop of an hundred and fifty

horse for a flank attack, did not venture to join battle, but

stood his ground, and then took to flight to his own terri-

tory.^ And the charge and attack of the Aretines

against the Florentines was to the end that, being con-

fident in their prowess, they might by their bold stroke

break the Florentines at the first onset, and put them to

flight. So great was the shock that the most part of the

Florentine fore-front were unhorsed, and the main body

was thrust back some way across the field, but for all that

they were not dismayed nor thrown into confusion, but

received the enemy steadily and bravely ; and with the

foot-soldiers drawn up on either flank they closed in on

the enemy, fighting desperately for a good while. AndM. Corso Donati, who was in charge of the reserve of

Lucchese and Pistojans, and had been ordered to stand fast,

and not to attack, under pain of death, when he saw the

battle begun, said like a brave man : If we lose, I will

die in the battle with my fellow-citizens ; and if we win,

let him come who will to Pistoja and exact the penalty;

and he boldly moved out his troop, and took the enemy -

in flank, and was the main cause of their rout.

" After this, as it pleased God, the Florentines had the

victory, and the Aretines were routed and defeated ; and

there were killed more than seventeen hundred, horse and

foot, and more than two thousand taken prisoners, whereof

many of the best were got away secretly, some by their

' This was the second time that Guido Novello distinguished himself

by running away. The first occasion was when he abandoned Florence

after the defeat of Manfred at Benevento (see above, pp. 32-3).

6(y DANTE IN FLORENCE

friends, and others for ransom ; but seven hundred and

forty of them were brought into Florence in bonds.

Among the slain was M. Guglielmino degli Ubertini,

Bishop of Arezzo, who was a great warrior, and M.Guglielmo de' Pazzi of Valdarno and his nephews, whowas the best and most crafty captain of war of his time in

Italy ; and there was killed too Buonconte, son of Guido

da Montefeltro, and three of the Uberti, and one of the

Abati, and many other exiles from Florence. On the

side of the Florentines scarce one man of note was slain,

but many both of the Florentines and of their allies were

wounded." The news of this victory came to Florence that very

day, at the very hour it took place ; for the Priors being

gone to sleep and rest after their meal, by reason of their

anxiety and watching the night before, suddenly there

was a knocking on the door of their chamber, with the

cry : Arise, for the Aretines are defeated ; and having

risen and opened the door, they found no one, and their

servants outside had heard nothing, wherefore it was held

to be a great and notable wonder, inasmuch as it was the

hour of vespers before any one came from the host with

the news. And this was the truth, for I heard it and saw

it; and all the Florentines marvelled whence this could

have come, and waited in suspense. But when the

messengers from the host were come, and brought back

the news to Florence, there was great gladness and rejoic-

ing ; as well there might be, for at this defeat were left

dead many captains and brave men of the Ghibelline party,

enemies of the commonwealth of Florence, and the arro-

gance and pride, not of the Aretines only, was brought

down, but of the whole Ghibelline party and of the

Empire." ^

'Villani, bk. vii. ch. 131.

BUONCONTE DA MONTEFELTRO 6i

Of those who fought on the same side as Dante in this

battle two, Vieri de' Cerchi and the impetuous Corso

Donati, were destined to play an important part in the

fortunes of Florence, and incidentally in those of Dante

himself.

One of the leaders on the opposite side, the Ghibelline

Buonconte da Montefeltro, forms the subject of one of

the most beautiful episodes in the Divina Commedia.

Buonconte's body, it seems, was never found after the

battle, and Dante, when he meets him in the confines of

Purgatory, asks him :" What violence, or what chance,

carried thee so far astray from Campaldino, that thy

burial-place was never known ? " Buonconte replies :

" At the foot of the Casentino crosses a stream, namedthe Archiano ; at the place where its name becomes void

(i.e. at its junction with the Arno) I arrived, pierced in

the throat, flying on foot, and staining the plain with

blood. There I lost my sight, and my speech finished

with the name of Mary, and there I fell, and my flesh re-

mained alone. I will tell the truth, and do thou repeat

it among the living. The Angel of God took me, and he

of Hell cried out :' O thou from heaven, why dost thou

rob me ? Thou bearest away for thyself the eternal part

of this one, for one little tear which takes him from me

;

but of the other part I will make other governance.' Then,

when the day was spent, he covered the valley with cloud,

from Pratomagno to the great ridge (of the Apennine),

and made overcast the heaven above, so that the teeming

air was turned to water. The rain fell, and to the trenches

came so much of it as the earth did not endure ; and as

it gathered in great streams it rushed so swiftly towards

the royal river that nothing held it back. The swollen

Archiano found my body, cold, near its outlet, and thrust

it into the Arno, and loosed on my breast the cross which


I made of myself when the pain overcame me. It rolled

me along its banks, and along the bottom, then with its

spoil it covered me and girt me." ^

Dante's military experiences did not end, as probably

they did not begin, with the battle of Campaldino. In

the following August, in consequence of the death of the

unhappy Count Ugolino, and ofthe expulsion of the Guelfs

from Pisa, the Tuscan Guelfs, headed by the Florentines

and Lucchese, invaded the Pisan territory, and ravaged it

for the space of twenty-five days. During this time they

laid siege to the castle of Caprona, about five miles from

Pisa, which after eight days capitulated. By the terms of

the surrender the garrison were allowed to march out under

a safe-conduct from the besieging force. Dante tells us

in the Divina Commedia that he was present on this

occasion, and witnessed the alarm of the beleagured foot-

soldiers, as they filed out between their enemies, lest the

latter should not keep their compact.^

There are other reminiscences in the Commedia of

Dante's campaigning days. One of these passages, in

which he speaks of how " at times a horseman goes out at

a gallop from his troop during the charge and seeks to

win the honour of the first assault," ^ is pretty certainly a

recollection of what took place at the beginning of the

battle of Campaldino. In another passage he gives a

vivid picture of the various scenes he must have witnessed

during the hostilities between Florence and Arezzo, in-

cluding the running of the horse-races under the enemy's

walls, as the Florentines did before Arezzo the year before

Campaldino :*—" I have seen ere now horsemen change

their ground, and set out to charge, and make their muster,

and sometimes fall back in their retreat ; I have seen

' Purgatorio, v. gi-izg. « Inferno, xxi. 93-6.

3 Purgatorio, xxiv. 94-6. * Villani, bk. vii. ch. 120.

"QUOMODO SEDET SOLA CIVITAS !" 63

skirmishers overrun your land, men of Arezzo, and I have

seen raiders go out, tourneys held, and jousts run, nowwith trumpets, now with bells, and with drums and with

signals from castle-walls ".^ And elsewhere he describes

a troop of soldiers manoeuvring on the field, how they

wheel with the banner at their head, as they change front

under cover of their shields.^

All these are indications that Dante's military experi-

ences were a very real part of his life, even though they

occurred at the very time when, as we know from his ownconfession in the Vtia Nuova, his mind was most deeply

occupied with the thought of Beatrice and of his love for

her. In less than a year after the triumphant return from

Campaldino the loss of " his most gentle lady " was to turn

gladness into mourning, so that, while all the world in

Florence was feasting and rejoicing, to Dante, as he sat

weeping in his chamber, the city was desolate—"Howdoth the city sit solitary," he cries with Jeremiah, - " she

that was full of people ! how is she become a widow, she

that was great among the nations!

" ^

^Inferno, xxii. i-8. ' Purgatorio, xxxii. 19-24.

' Vita Nuova, §§ 29, 31 ; Lamentations, i. i.

CHAPTER III

1291-1300

Early studies—^Brunetto Latino—Classical acquirements—Marriage

—

Gemma Donati—Children—Public life—Embassy to San Gemignano

—

Priorate.

OF Dante's studies during his eariy years we know but

little for certain. From a misunderstanding of an

expression in the Divina Commedia ^ it has been assumed

that he was a pupil of Brunetto Latino, a Florentine notary

and statesman, who was the author of a book called the

Trisor, a sort of encyclopaedia of the knowledge of the

day, written in French. Brunetto could hardly have been

Dante's master, in the ordinary acceptation of the term,

inasmuch as he was about fifty-five when Dante was bom;

besides which he was too constantly occupied with the

affairs of the commonwealth to allow of his having leisure

for teaching during the years of Dante's boyhood.

Already, when he was only eighteen, Dante had acquired

the art of versifying, as he tells us in the Vita Nuova.'^

1 When he meets Brunetto in Hell Dante says to him :" In my mind

is fixed the dear and kind fatherly image of you, when in the world you

from time to time taught me how man becomes eternal " (Inferno, xv.

82-s). This probably means nothing more than that Dante learned muchfrom Brunette's Tresor, and especially from the compendium of the Ethics

of Aristotle which it contains.

s Vita Nuova, § 3, 11. 69-71 :" I had already learned of myself the art

of setting words in rime ".

64

EARLY STUDIES 65

And from the same source we know that he was to someextent practised in drawing, for he relates how on the first

anniversary of Beatrice's death, " remembering me of her

as I sat alone, I betook myself to draw the resemblance

of an angel upon certain tablets. And while I did thus,

chancing to turn my head, I perceived that some were

standing beside me to whom I should have given courteous

welcome, and that they were observing what I did : also I

learned afterwards that they had been there a while before

I perceived them. Perceiving whom, I arose for salutation,

and said : Another was with me. Afterwards, when they

had left me, I set myself again to mine occupation, to wit,

to the drawing figures of angels." ^

In letters also, as may be gathered from the Convivio,

Dante was largely his own instructor. After the death of

Beatrice, he says, " I remained so overwhelmed with grief

that no comfort availed me. Howbeit, after some time,

my mind, which was striving to regain its health, resolved

(since neither mine own nor others' consolation was of any

avail) to have recourse to the plan which a certain other

disconsolate one had adopted for his consolation. And I

set myself to read that book of Boethius,^ whose contents

are known but to few, wherewith, when a prisoner and in

exile, he had consoled himself And hearing also that

Cicero too had written a book, in which, treating of friend-

ship, he had spoken of the consolation of Laelius, that

most excellent man, on the death of his friend Scipio, I

set myself to read that' And although at first it was

hard for me to understand the meaning of them, yet at

length I succeeded so far as such knowledge of Latin as I

possessed, and somewhat of understanding on my part,

enabled me to do. And as it befalls that a man who is in

' Vita Nuova, § 35, IK 4-15 (trans, by Rossetti).

2 The De Consolatione Philosophiae. ' The De Amicitia.

5


search of silver sometimes, not without divine ordinance,

finds gold beyond his expectations, so I, who sought for

consolation, found not only healing for my grief, but in-

struction in the terms used by authors in science and other

books." 1

At the time referred to in this passage Dante was past

his twenty-fifth year. It is evident, therefore, that in his

early manhood he was by no means far advanced in his

classical studies. With Provencal literature, on the other

hand, it is probable that he was early familiar, not only

from the references in the Vita Nuova, but from the fact

that the work itself was composed more or less after a

Provencal model. From the authors quoted in the Vita

Nuova (which was written between 1292 and 1295, at any

rate when Dante was not more than thirty) it is possible

to form a pretty accurate estimate of the extent of his

classical acquirements at that period. He shows somefamiliarity with the Ethics and Metaphysics of Aristotle

(not of course in the original Greek—a language he never

knew—but through the medium of Latin translations),

and quotes Homer twice, once from the Ethics of Aristotle,

and once from the Ars Poetica of Horace. Ovid, Lucan,

Horace, and Virgil are all quoted directly/the last several

time^ but there is not much trace of intimate acquaintance

with any one of them. Dante also displays a certain

knowledge of astronomy in the Vita Nuova, Ptolemybeing quoted by name, while to the Arabian astronomer,

^ConvMo, ii. 13, U. 5-36. The"scuole de' religiosi," which Dantefurther on in this same passage (11. 47-8) says he attended at this time,

were doubtless those of the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella, to whichlaymen were admitted. Here Dante would have received instruction in

the seven liberal arts of the Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) andQuadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy), and in natural andmoral philosophy (see G. Salvadori , Sulla Vita Giovanile di Dante,

pp. 106 ff.).

"

MARRIAGE 6^

Alfraganus, he was certainly indebted for some of his data

as to the motions of the heavens, and for his details as to

the Syrian and Arabian calendars. If we add to these

authors the Bible, which is quoted four or five times, and

the works of Cicero and Boethius already mentioned, wehave practically the range of his reading up to about his

thirtieth year, at any rate so far as may be gathered from

his writings, which in Dante's case is a fairly safe criterion.

Some of his biographers state that Dante during his

early manhood studied at the universities of Bologna and

Padua, but there is no evidence to support this statement,

which is probably little more than a conjecture.

Within a few years of the death of Beatrice, certainly

not later than 1298, Dante married. His wife, whose

name was Gemma,^ was the daughter of Manetto and

Maria Donati, of the same ancient and noble Guelf family

to which belonged Dante's friend Forese,^ and the im-

petuous Corso Donati, who, as we have seen,^ distinguished

himself at the battle of Campaldino. Boccaccio states

that Dante's marriage was brought about by his relations

in order to console him for the loss of Beatrice, and he

further draws a melancholy picture of what he supposes

Dante's married life to have been.

" Dante," he says, " formerly had been used to spend

his time over his precious studies whenever he was inclined,

and would converse with kings and princes, dispute with

philosophers, and, frequent the company of poets, the

burden of whose griefs he would share, and thus solace

his own. Now, whenever it pleased his new mistress, he

^Some think that Gemma Donati is the "donna gentile" of the con-

cluding chapters of the Vita Nuova (§§ 36-9). See, for instance, Fraticelli,

Vita di Dante, cap. 5, where, in reference to the appearance of the lady

at a window (Vita Nuova, § 36), he points out that the houses of the

Donati and of the Alighieri were opposite to each other, back to back.2 See above, pp. 39, 51. * See above, pp. 58-g.


must at her bidding quit this distinguished company, and

bear with the talk of women, and to avoid a worse vexa-

tion must not only assent to their opinions, but against

his inclination must even approve them. He who, when-

ever the presence of the vulgar herd annoyed him, had

been accustomed to retire to some solitary spot, and there

to speculate on the motions of the heavens, or the source

of animal life, or the beginnings of created things, or, maybe, to indulge some strange fancy, or to compose some-

what which after his death should make his name live into

future ages—he now, as often as the whim took his newmistress, must abandon all such sweet contemplation, and

go in company with those who had little mind for such

things. He who had been used to laugh or to weep, to

sing or to sigh, according as pleasing or painful thoughts

prompted him, now must not dare, or, should he venture,

must account to his mistress for every emotion, nay, even

for every little sigh. Oh ! what unspeakable weariness to

have to live day by day, and at last to grow old and die,

in the company of such a suspicious being!

"'

In spite of Boccaccio's express avowal that he cannot

positively assert the truth of all this,^ nevertheless his picture

has been accepted seriously by many writers as an accurate

representation of Dante's married life. As a matter of

fact there is very little real ground for supposing that

Dante lived unhappily with Gemma. The arguments ad-

duced in support of the contention are as follows : that

men of genius are notoriously " gey ill to live with," andconsequently, even if Gemma was not the shrew painted

by Boccaccio, Dante no doubt was an unbearable com-panion, wherefore they must have been unhappy together

;

' Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 3, pp. 20-1.

2 " Certo io non affermo queste cose a Dante essere awenute ; ch& nol

so " (ed. cit, p. 23).

DANTE AND GEMMA 69

again, that Dante nowhere in his works makes any refer-

ence to his wife ; and lastly, that when Dante was exiled

from Florence he left Gemma behind him, and, so far as is

known, never saw her again. Only one of these arguments

has any real weight. The first is based on a pure assump-

tion. If the absence of any reference to Gemma in

Dante's works necessarily implies that they lived on bad

terms, the same must be assumed in the case of Dante's

parents, to whom his references are of the vaguest, ^ and of

his children. On the other hand, the fact that Gemmadid not subsequently live with Dante, so far as our in-

formation goes, when he settled at Ravenna with two of

his children, lends some colour to the supposition that the

affection between them was not of the strongest. Boc-

caccio makes the most of this circumstance. He concludes

his account of this ill-assorted match, as at any rate he

supposed it to have been, with the following words

:

" Certainly I do not affirm that these things happened in

Dante's case, for I do not know. But, at any rate, whether

that be the truth or not, once Dante was separated from

her who had been given to console him in his grief, he

never would come where she was, nor would he ever allow

her to come to him." ^

This is an explicit statement, and it is probable that

Boccaccio, who was in communication with members of

Dante's family, did not make it without some authority.

At any rate, whatever the domestic relations between

Dante and Gemma may have been, it is certain that they

had a family of four children, all of whom were bom in

Florence before the year 1302. These children were two

' His father and mother are referred to as " i miei generanti " in the

Convivio (i. 13, 1. 31); and his mother is referred to in the Inferno (viii.

45).

^ Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 3, p. 23.


sons, Pietro and Jacopo, and two daughters, Antonia and

Beatrice. Pietro, the eldest son, who was the author of a

commentary on the Divina Commedia} became a lawyer,

and died in Treviso in 1364.^ Jacopo, who also wrote a

commentary on the Commedia (or at any rate on the In-

ferno)^ and a didactic poem called // Dottrinale, entered

the Church, became a canon in the diocese of Verona, and

died before 1349. Of Antonia it is only known that she

was still alive in 1332, Beatrice became a nun in the Con-

1 Pietro's commentary, which was published by Lord Vernon at Florence

in 1845, was written (in Latin) between 1340 and 1341. (See L. Rocca, II

Commento di Pietro A lighieri, in Di Alcuni Commenti della D.C. composti

neifrimi vent' anni dopo la morte di Dante, 1891, pp. 343-425).

"Dante's biographer, Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444), says of Pietro:

" Dante, among otlier children, had a son Pietro, who studied law, and

became distinguished. By his own gifts, and as being his father's son, he

attained a great position and considerable means, and settled at Verona in

very good circumstances. This Messer Pietro had a son called Dante,

and to this Dante was born a son Leonardo, who is still living and has

several children. Not long ago this Leonardo came to Florence, with

other young men of Verona, well-to-do and much respected, and came to

visit me as a friend to the memory of his great-grandfather Dante. And

I showed him the house of Dante and of his ancestors, and gave him in-

formation about many things of which he was ignorant, owing to the fact

that, he and his family had been estranged from the home of their

fathers ". (Vita di Dante, ad fin.).

Dante, the father of this Leonardo, died in 1428. Leonardo had a son

Pietro (d. 1476), who had a son Dante (d. 1515), who had three sons, the

youngest of whom, Francesco, died 12 August, 1563, and was buried at

Verona. With Francesco the male descendants of Dante Alighieri cameto an end (see Genealogical Table, in G. L. Passerini, La Famiglia

Alighieri).

' Jacopo's commentary (in Italian) on the Inferno, which was published

by Lord Vernon at Florence in 1848, was written certainly before 1333,

and probably before 1325 (see L. Rocca, Chiose attribuite a jacopo di

Dante, in op. cit. pp. 1-42). On the question as to whether Jacopo wrote

a commentary on the whole poem, see F. P. Luiso, Chiose di Dante le

qualifeceelfigluolo co le sue mani, 1904; and Tra Chiose e CommentiAntichi alia D.C, 1903. Jacopo also wrote (in 1322) a Capitoh (a sum-

mary) in terza rima On the Commedia (see Rocca, op. cit. p. 33 ff.).

ALLEGED AMOURS 71

vent of Santo Stefano dell' Uliva at Ravenna, where in

1 3 50 she was presented by Boccaccio with the sum of ten

gold florins on behalf of the Capitani di Or San Michele

of Florence.^ She died before 1370, in which year there

is a record of the payment of a bequest of hers of three

gold ducats to the convent where she had passed her days.^

Three of Dante's children, Pietro, Jacopo, and Beatrice,

lived with him during the last three or four years of his

life at Ravenna. Gemma, who, as we have seen, is sup-

posed never to have rejoined Dante after his exile from

Florence, was still living in 1332, eleven years after Dante's

death.

At some period not long after the death of Beatrice

Portinari, Dante appears to have been entangled in an

amour of a more or less discreditable nature. It seems

clear from the language used to Dante by Beatrice in the

Divina Commedia that this must have been the case. She

says that as soon as she was dead and gone, Dante became

unfaithful to her, and " gave himself to another," whereby" he fell so low '' that she despaired of his salvation.^ Thenames of several ladies which occur in Dante's lyrical

poems have been connected with this charge ; and there

can be little doubt that some similar entanglement took

place at Lucca after his exile, as appears from the account

of Dante's meeting with the Lucchese poet, Bonagiunta,

in Purgatory.*

In 1295 or 1296, whether before or after his marriage

we have no means of ascertaining, Dante, in order to

' See Del Lungo, VielV Esilio di Dante, pp. i8, 161-2.

*See Giornale Dantesco, vii. 339-40. It has been conjectured, with

not much plausibility, that Beatrice may have been identical with Antonia,

who may have taken the name of Beatrice on becoming a nun (see

Giornale Dantesco, viii. 470-1).

' Purgatorio, xxx. 127-38.

* Purgatorio, xxiv. 37-45 (see below, p. 97).


qualify himself for the higher offices in the government of

Florence, enrolled himself in the Guild of Physicians and

Apothecaries,^ he having now reached the age at which,

by the Florentine law, he was entitled to exercise the full

rights of citizenship. This was Dante's first step in his

political career, which was destined within a few years to

lead him into lifelong exile from his native city. TheGuild selected by Dante was one of the wealthiest and

most important in Florence, concerned as it was with the

costly products of the East, in which were included not

only spices and drugs, but also pearls, precious stones, and

other valuables. Dante's choice of this particular Guild,

however, may perhaps be explained by the fact that in

those days books also were included among the wares

deaflt in by apothecaries ; and further, to this Guild were

attached those who practised the art of painting, an art

which, it may be gathered, had special attractions for

Dante,^nd in which, as we have already seen,^ he was to

some extent a proficientj

A few details of Dante's public life in Florence have

been preserved in various documents in the Florentine

archives.^ It is recorded * that on 6 July, 1295, he gave

his opinion in favour of certain proposed modifications of

the " Ordinamenti di Giustizia," ordinances against the

power of the nobles in Florence, which had been enacted

a couple of years before. On 14 December of the sameyear he took part in the bi-monthly election of Priors ; and

on 5 June, 1296, he spoke in the Council of the Hundred

^See Fraticelli, Vita di Dante, pp. 112-13.

' See above, p. 65.

^ See D' Ancona e Bacci, Manuals delta Letteratura Italiana, I. 185 fif,

* Or supposed to be recorded, for M. Barbi has shown that the . . .

herii in the torn document, hitherto conjectured to represent Dante Alag-

herii, must almost certainly refer to some other Alighieri (see Bulletfino

della Societd Dantesca Italiana, N.S. (1899), vi, 225 iT., 237).

PUBLIC LIFE 73

(" Consiglio dei Cento "). In the spring of 1 300 he went

as ambassador to San Gemignano, a town about ten miles

from Siena, to announce that an assembly was to be held

for the purpose of electing a new captain of the Guelf

League of Tuscany, ' and to invite the citizens of San

Gemignano to send representatives. The room in the

Palazzo of San Gemignano, where Dante was received as

ambassador to Florence, and where he spoke in discharge

of his office six hundred years ago, is still preserved in

much the same condition in which it was on that occasion.

The contemporary record 1 of the event, which, like all

similar records of that time, is in Latin, tells how " on

8 May the General Council of the commonwealth and

people of San Gemignano having been convoked and

assembled in the palace of the said commonwealth by the

sounding of a bell and by the voice of the crier, according

to custom, at the summons of the noble and valiant knight,

Messer Mino de' Tolomei of Siena, the honourable

Podesta of the commonwealth and people of the said city

of San Gemignano, . . . the noble Dante Alighieri, am-bassador of the commonwealth of Florence, explained to

the assembled Council on behalfof the said commonwealthhow it was expedient at that time for all the cities of

the Tuscan League to hold a parliament and discussion in

a certain place for the election and confirmation of a newCaptain, and how further it was expedient that the ap-

pointed syndics and ambassadors of the said cities should

assemble themselves together for the despatch of the said

business ". It appears that Dante's mission was successful,

for the record goes on to state that the proposition of the

Florentine ambassador, having been debated, was approved

and ratified by the Council.

A few weeks after his return from San Gemignano

^ The original is printed by Fraticelli, Vita di Dante, pp. 138-9.


Dante was elected to serve as one of the six Priors, for

the two months from 1 5 June to 1 5 August, this being

the highest office in the Republic of Florence.^ " Fromthis priorate," says Leonardi Bruni, " sprang Dante's exile

from Florence, and all the adverse fortunes of his life as

he himself writes in one of his letters, the words of which

are as follows :' All my woes and all my misfortunes had

their origin and commencement with my unlucky election

to the priorate ; of which priorate, although I was not

worthy in respect of worldly wisdom, yet in respect of

loyalty and of years I was not unworthy of it ; inasmuch

as ten years had passed since the battle of Campaldino,

where the Ghibelline party was almost entirely broken

and brought to an end, on which occasion I was present,

not inexperienced in arms, and was in great fear, and after-

wards greatly exultant, by reason of the varying fortunes

of that battle.' These are his words." ^

^ The only extant document relating to Dante's priorate is the record of

the confirmation on 15 June, 1300, of a sentence against three Florentines,

who were the creatures of Boniface VIII. (see Del Lungo, Dal Secolo e

dal Poetna di Dante, pp. 371-3).

" Vita di Dante, ed. Brunone Bianchi, 1883, p. xvii.

CHAPTER IV

1 300-1 302

Blacks and Whites in Pistoja—In Florence—Cerchi and Donati—MayDay, 1300—Dante in office—Embassy to Rome—Charles of Valois in

Florence—Triumph of the Blacks—Condemnation and Exile of Dante

—

His Possessions and Debts.

FLORENCE at the time of Dante's election to the

priorate was hi a dangerous state of ferment owing

to the recent introduction from Pistoja of the factions of

the Blacks and the Whites, which divided the Guelf party

in Florence into two opposite camps, and were the occasion

of frequent brawls and bloodshed in the streets.

These factions, according to the old chroniclers,

originated in Pistoja in a feud between two branches of

the Cancellieri, a Guelf family of that city, who were de-

scended from the same sire, one Ser Cancelliere, but bydifferent mothers. These two branches adopted distinc-

tive names, the one being known as the Cancellieri

Bianchi, or White Cancellieri, as being descended from

Cancelliere's wife Bianca, the other as the Cancellieri Neri,

or Black Cancellieri." A strong feeling of rivalry existed

between the two branches, which at last, as the story is

told, on the occasion of a trifling quarrel, broke out into

actual hostilities.

It appears that one day the father of a certain Focaccia,

who belonged to the White Cancellieri, chastised one of

his nephews for assaulting another boy with a snowball.

7'?

^e DANTE IN FLORENCE

The nephew in revenge a few days after struck his uncle,

for which he was sent by his father to receive such punish-

ment as the uncle should see fit to administer. The latter,

however, laughed the matter off, and sent the boy awaywith a kiss. But Focaccia, catching his cousin as he came

out of the house, dragged him into the stable and cut off

his hand on the manger, and then, not content with this,

sought out the boy's father, his own uncle, and murdered

him. This atrocious crime naturally led to reprisals, and

in a short time the whole city was in an uproar. One half

the citizens sided with the Whites, the other half with the

Blacks, so that Pistoja was reduced to a state of civil war.

To put an end to this state of things the Florentines in-

tervened ; and in the hope of extinguishing the feud they

secured the leaders of both factions, and imprisoned them

in Florence. Unhappily this measure only led to the in-

troduction of the feud among the Florentines themselves.

In Florence also there happened to be two rival families

—

the Donati, who were of ancient lineage, but in reduced

circumstances, and the Cerchi, who were wealthy upstarts.

The former, headed by the brave Corso Donati, one of the

Guelf leaders at the battle of Campaldino, took the part

of the Black Cancellieri, while the Cerchi, headed byVieri de' Cerchi, who had also distinguished himself onthe Guelf side at Campaldino,^ took the part of the WhiteCancellieri. Thus it came about that through the private

enmities of two Pistojan and two Florentine houses,

Florence, which was ostensibly Guelf at the time, becamedivided into Black Guelfs and White Guelfs. These twodivisions, which had originally been wholly unpolitical, bydegrees became respectively pure Guelfs and disaffected

Guelfs, the latter, the White Guelfs, eventually throwing

in their lot with the Ghibellines.

'See above, pp. 58, 61.

BLACKS AND WHITES 77

" When the city of Pistoja," says Leonardo Bruni, " was

divided into factions by reason of this wicked quarrel, it

seemed good to the Florentines, in order to put an pnd

to the trouble, to summon the leaders of both factions to

Florence, so that they might not create any further dis-

turbance in Pistoja. But this remedy was of such sort

that it did more harm to the Florentines by drawing the

plague upon themselves, than good to the Pistojans by

ridding them of the ringleaders in the mischief. For, in-

asmuch as the latter had many friends and relations in

Florence, through their partisanship the conflagration

immediately burst out with greater fury in this city

than it had done in Pistoja before they quitted it. Andas the matter came to be discussed everywhere, in public

and in private, the ill seed wondrous quickly took root,

and the whole city was divided, so that there was hardly

a family, noble or plebeian, but was divided against itself;

nor was there a private individual of any consequence whodid not join one side or the other. And the division

spread even between own brothers, one holding with one

faction, and one with the other. And after the dispute

had lasted for several months, and disagreements became

more frequent, not only in words but also in angry and

harsh deeds, at first between young men, and afterwards

between their elders, the city of Florence at last waseverywhere in a state of ferment and disturbance."^

The degree of jealousy and suspicion with which the

Cerchi and Donati, the respective champions of the

Whites and Blacks in Florence, regarded each other maybe gathered from the following incident related by a con-

temporary chronicler :^

—

" It happened that there was a family who called them-

1 Vita, di Dante, ed. cit. pp. xvii-xviii.

' Dino Compagni, bk. i, ch. 2o,


selves Cerchi, men of low estate, but good merchants and

of great wealth; and they dressed richly, and kept manyservants and horses, and made a fine show ; and some of

them bought the palace of the Conti Guidi, which was

close to the houses of the Donati, who were more ancient

of blood but not so rich ; wherefore seeing the Cerchi rise

to great position, and that they had walled and enlarged

the Palace, and kept great state, the Donati began to

have a great hatred against them. Wherefrom great

scandal and peril ensued to private persons and to the

city at large.

" Now it came to pass one day that many people of the

city were gathered together, for the burying of a dead lady,

on the Piazza de' Frescobaldi ; and it being the custom

of the city that at such gatherings the citizens should

sit below on rush-bottomed stools, and the knights and

doctors above upon benches, the Donati and the Cerchi,

such of them as were not knights, being seated on the

ground, opposite to each other, one of them, either for the

purpose of adjusting his dress, or for some other reason,

rose to his feet. Whereupon those of the opposite party

likewise rose up, suspecting somewhat, and laid their

hands on their swords ; and the others doing the same,

they began to make a brawl. But the rest of those whowere present interfered between them, and would not let

them come to blows. The disturbance, however, was not

so completely quelled but that a large crowd collected at

the residence of the Cerchi, and straightway at a wordwould have made for the Donati, had not some of the

Cerchi forbidden it."

The commencement of actual hostilities in Florence be-

tween the Blacks and the Whites was due to a street

brawl on the evening of May Day in the year 1 300—the

year of Dante's priorate—between some of these same

CERCHI AND DONATI yg

Cerchi and Donati on the occasion of a dance in the

Piazza of Santa Trinita. Two parties of young men onhorseback belonging to either side, while looking on,

began hustling each other. This soon led to serious

fighting, during which one of the Cerchi had his nose cut

off.

" At this time (in the year of Christ 1300)," says Villani,

" our city of Florence was in the greatest and happiest

state it had ever been in since it was rebuilt, or even be-

fore, as well in size and power as in the number of her

people, for there were more than thirty thousand citizens

in the city, and more than seventy thousand fit to bear

arms in the districts belonging to her territory ; and byreason of the nobility of her brave knights and of her free

people, as well of her great riches, she was mistress of

almost the whole of Tuscany." But the sin of ingratitude, with the help of the enemy

of the human race, out of this prosperity brought forth

pride and corruption, whereby the feasting and rejoicings

of the Florentines were brought to an end. For up to

this time they had been living in peace, in great luxury

and delicacy, and with continual banquets; and every

year on May Day, through nearly the whole of the city,

there were gatherings and companies of men and women,with entertainments and dancing. But now it came about

that through envy there arose divisions among the citizens

;

and the chief and greatest of these began in that quarter

of strife, the quarter of Porte San Piero, between those

belonging to the house of the Cerchi and those of the

Donati, on the one side through envy, on the other through

rudeness and ungraciousness.

" The head of the house of the Cerchi was M. Vieri de'

Cerchi, and he and his house were men of great conse-

quence, and powerful, with great connections, and very

8o DANTE IN FLORENCE

wealthy merchants, for their company was one of the

largest in the world ; and they were touchy and uncouth,

rude in their manners and harsh, after the manner of

those who have risen in a short time to great power and

estate. The head of the house of the Donati was M. Corso

Donati, and he and his house were of gentle birth, and

men of war, with no great wealth.

" And the Cerchi and Donati were neighbours in Flor-

ence and in the country, and what with the boorish temper

of the one house and the jealousy of the other, there

sprang up between them a bitter scorn, which was greatly

inflamed by the ill seed of the Black and White parties

introduced from Pistoja, for the Cerchi were the heads of

the Whites in Florence, and the Donati were the heads of

the Blacks. And by the said two parties all the city of

Florence and her territory was divided and infected. For

which cause the Guelf party, fearing lest these divisions

should turn to the advantage of the Ghibellines, sent to

Pope Boniface to ask him to heal them. Wherefore the

Pope sent for M. Vieri de' Cerchi, and when he was comeinto his presence, besought him to make peace with M.Corso Donati and his party, and to submit their differences

to him, promising to advance him and his friends to a

great position, and offering him any spiritual favours he

might ask. M. Vieri, although in other matters he was a

prudent knight, in this matter showed little wisdom, but

was obstinate and touchy, and would do nothing of whatthe Pope asked, saying that he had no quarrel with anyman ; and so he returned to Florence, and left the Popevery wrathful against him and his party.

" Not long after this it happened that certain of each

party were riding on horseback through the city, armedand on the alert, young men of the Cerchi, with some of

the Adimari, and others, to the number of more than

DANTE IN OFFICE 8i

thirty horsemen, and young men of the Donati, with someof the Pazzi, and others of their following ; and it being

the evening of May Day in this year 1300, as they were

looking on at a dance of ladies which was being held in

the Piazza of Santa Trinita, one party began to provoke

the other, and to push their horses one against the other,

whence there arose a great scuffle and uproar, and several

were wounded, and by ill-luck Ricoverino, son of M. Rico-

vero de' Cerchi, had his nose cut from off his face ; and

by reason of the scuffle that evening the whole city was

in alarm and under arms.

"And this was the beginning of the dissensions and

divisions in the city of Florence and in the Guelf party,

wherefrom ensued much evil and great danger to the

Guelf party and to the Ghibellines, and to all the city of

Florence, and to the whole of Italy also. And in like

manner as the death of M. Buondelmonte was the begin-

ning of the Guelf and Ghibelline parties in Florence, so

was this the beginning of the great ruin of the Guelf party

and of our city." 1

In consequence of the repeated disturbances caused bythe quarrels between the Blacks and the Whites, during

Dante's priorate it was decided to banish from Florence the

leaders of both parties, in the hope of restoring the city to

peace and quiet, fAmong the leaders of the Whites was

the poet, Guido Cavalcanti, Dante's eariiest friend. It thus

came about that in the impartial exercise of his office Dante

was instrumental in sending his dearest friend into exile,

and, as it proved, to his death ; for, though the exiles were

recalled after a few weeks, Guido never recovered from

the effects of the malarious climate of Sarzana in

Lunigiana, to which he had been banished, and died in

> Villani, bk, viii. ch. 39.


Florence at the end of August in the same year

(1300).!

The feuds between the two factions now reached such

a height that, as we have seen, the interference of Pope

Boniface was invoked, and at this time the Blacks were

clamouring for Charles of Valois, brother of the King of

France, to come to Florence as the Pope's representative.

\ The Whites, on the other hand, to which faction Dante

himself belonged, were bitterly opposed both to Boniface

and to Charles of Valois.

In April of the next year (1301), in the midst of these

troubles, Dante was entrusted with the charge of super-

intending the works on the street of San Procolo, which

were intended to facilitate the bringing of troops from

the outside districts into the city.^ On 19 June in this

year Dante voted in the Council of the Hundred against

the proposal to supply a contingent of a hundred soldiers

to serve with the Papal forces, on the requisition of Pope

Boniface ;—

" Dante Alighieri," the record runs, " advised

that in the matter of furnishing assistance to the Pope,

nothing should be done ". He recorded his vote on various

1 From Guide's last poem, written at Sarzana during his exile, it is evi-

dent that he never expected to return. If certain expressions in this poemare to be taken literally, it would appear that Guido already felt the handof death upon him :

—

" Perch' i' no spero di tornar giammai,Ballatetta, in Toscana,

Va tu, leggera e plana

Dritt' a la Donna mia . . .

• * #

Tu senti, ballatetta, che la raorte

Mi stringe si che vita m' abbandona."

{Rime, ed. Ercole, pp. 406-8).^ The documents relating to this matter and to Dante's votes in the

" Consiglio dei Cento " are printed in Annual Report of the Cambridge(U.S.A.) Dante Society for i8gi (pp. 36-47).

SENTENCE OF EXILE 83

matters several times in one or other of the Councils

during the month of September, the last of which mention

is preserved being on 28 September. In the following

October, in order to protest against the Papal policy,

which aimed at the virtual subjection of Florence, and if

possible to avert the coming of Charles of Valois, the

Whites sent an embassy to Rome, of which Dante was a

member. But while Dante was still absent at Rome, the

Pope's " peacemaker " Charles arrived in Florence, which

he entered on All Saints' Day (i November, 1301), his

entrance having been unopposed, on the faith of his

promise to hold the balance between the two parties, and

to maintain peace. No sooner, however, had he obtained

command of the city, than he treacherously espoused the

cause of the Blacks, armed his followers, and threw the

whole of Florence into confusion. In the midst of the

panic Corso Donati, one of the exiled leaders of the Blacks,

made his way into the city, broke open the prisons and

released the prisoners, who, together with his own adherents,

attacked and pillaged the houses of the Whites during five

days, Charles of Valois meanwhile, in spite of his promises,

making no attempt to interfere.

The Blacks, having thus gained the upper hand in Flor-

ence, began without delay to strengthen themselves bygetting rid of their opponents. On 27 January, 1 302, the

Podesti, Cante de' Gabrielli of Gubbio, pronounced a

sentence against Dante and four other Whites, who had

been summoned before the Podesta and had failed to

appear. The charge against them was the infamous one

of " barratry," that is, of fraud and corrupt practices in

office, including the extortion of money and the makingof illicit gains. They were further charged with having

conspired against the Pope, against the admission into the

city of his representative, Charles of Valois, and against the


peace of the city of Florence and of the Guelf party. Thepenalty was a fine of five thousand florins, and the

restitution of the sums illegally exacted;payment was to

be made within three days of the promulgation of the

sentence, in default of which all their goods were to be

forfeited 1 and destroyed. In addition to the fine, the

delinquents were sentenced to banishment from Tuscany

for two years, and to perpetual deprivation from ofifice in

the commonwealth of Florence, their names to that end

being recorded in the book of the Statutes of the People,

as peculators and malversators in office.

This sentence having been disregarded, on lo March in

the same year a second severer sentence ^ was pronounced

against Dante and the others (with whom ten more were

now included), condemning them to be burned alive ^

should they ever be caught :" if any of the aforesaid at

any time should come into the hands of the said Common-wealth, such an one shall be burned with fire so that he

die".

That Dante was entirely innocent of the charge of cor-

ruption brought against him there can hardly be the

1 That this was no empty threat is proved by the mention in a document(dated 14 August, 1305) of a levy in Florence " in bonis Dantis de AUa-ghieris et Francischi eius fratris rebellium et condempnatorum comunisFlorentie" (see BulUttino delta Societd Dantesca Italiana, N.S. (1907),xiv. 125) ; and by the deed of restitution (dated 9 January, 1343) to Dante'sson Jacopoof his father's confiscated property (see Del Lungo,Z)e//' Esilio

di Dante, pp. 158-60).

^ The text of both sentences is printed by Del Lungo in DelV Esilio

di Dante, pp. 97-106.

' That burning alive was no uncommon punishment in those days, as

in later times, is evident from the fact that in an old Sienese inventory

occurs the entry " due pezzi di catene da ardere huomini ". MaestroAdamo of Brescia was burned alive in 1281 for coining counterfeit goldflorins (Inf. xxx. log-io) ; and Dante himself refers in the Purgatorio(xxvii. 17-18) to his having seen men burned alive ; cf. also Inferno xxix.

no.

POSSESSIONS AND DEBTS 85

smallest doubt. It was merely a base device on the part

of his enemies within the city to disqualify him and the

rest of the Whites from taking any further part in the

government of Florence. None of his early biographers

believes in his guilt, while his contemporary and fellow-

citizen, the chronicler, Giovanni Villani, who belonged to

the opposite party, states frankly that he was driven into

exile for no other fault than that of being an adherent of

the Whites. " The said Dante," he says, " was one of the

chief magistrates of our city, and was of the White party,

and a Guelf withal ; and on that account, without any

other fault, with the said White party he was driven out

and banished from Florence." ^

Dante's private property, which, as stated above, was

condemned to be confiscated at the time of his exile, was,

it may be gathered, not inconsiderable. Boccaccio states

that his father's fortune at the time of his birth was abund-

ant, abundant at any rate for those days ; ^ and Leonardo

Bruni tells us that before his exile, though not very

wealthy, he was by no means a poor man, but had a

sufficient patrimony to enable him to live comfortably.^

Bruni adds that, besides house property in Florence, he

owned land in the neighbourhood of the city, which is

known from other sources to have consisted of farms, vine-

yards, oliveyards, and plantations.* He also says, on

1 Villani, bk. ix. ch. 136.' " Nacque questo singulare splendore italico nella nostra citta . . .

ricevuto nella paterna casa da assai lieta foituna: lieta dico, secondo la

qualita del mondo che allora correva ' {Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone,

§ 2, p. II).

^ " Dante innanzi la cacciata sua di Firenze, contuttoche di grandissima

ricchezza non fusse, nientedimeno non fu povero, ma ebbe patrimonio

mediocre e sufficiente al vivere onoratamente " (Vita di Dante, ed. Bru-

none Bianchi, 1883, p. xxii).

* See Zingarelli, Dante, p. 31. The information is derived from a docu-

ment (dated 15 May, 1332) relating to the division of the family property


Dante's own authority, that he possessed a quantity of

valuable furniture.^ It might be supposed consequently

that Dante was possessed ofample means ; but it appears,

not only from certain allusions in a sonnet addressed to

him by Forese Donati,^ but also from documentary evid-

ence, that even before his exile he was in embarrassed cir-

cumstances, and was obliged to borrow considerable sums of

money. Thus, on ii April, 1297, he and his half-brother,

Francesco, borrowed 277J gold florins ("fiorini di buon

peso d' oro di Firenze ") from Andrea di Guido de' Ricci fon 23 December, of the same year they borrowed 480

florins from Jacopo di Lotto and Pannochia di Ricco-

manno ; Dante further borrowed ninety florins from Perso

Ubaldino, and forty-six florins from Filippo di Lapo Bonac-

colti; these three last sums on the security of Manetto

Donati, Dante's father-in-law, as we learn from the will of

his widow, Maria, dated 17 February, 131 5.* Again, on

14 March, 1299, Dante borrowed 125 florins from his half-

brother, Francesco ; and another ninety florins from the

same on 1 1 June of the following year, four days before

he entered on his office as Prior.^

between Dante's half-brother, Francesco, and Dante's two sons, Pietro and

Jacopo, which is printed by Imbriani in his Studi DantesM, pp. 86 ff.

^ " Case in Firenze ebbe assai decenti, congiunte con le case di Gieri di

messer Bello suo consorto;possession! in Camerata e nella Piacentina e in

piano di Ripoli ; suppellettile abbondante e preziosa, secondo egli scrive"

(op. oit, p. xxii). It is supposed that the letter here referred to was the" epistola assai lunga," beginning " Popule mee, quid feci tibi," mentioned

by Bruni elsewhere as having been written by Dante to the people of Flor-

ence after his exile (see below, p. gi).

2 Son. liii*. in the Oxford Dante.

^This document is printed by M. Barbi, in Bullettino della SocietA

Dantesca Italiana, No. 8 {1892), p 11.

* Printed by Imbriani, Studi Danteschi, pp. 406 ff.

" See Bullettino della Society Dantesca Italiana, No. 8 (1892), p. 9,

where Barbi prints an extract from the document already mentioned relat-

ing to the division of the Alighieri family property in 1332 (printed in full

by Imbriani, Studi Danteschi, pp. 86 ff.).

DISCHARGE OF DEBTS 87

For what purpose these debts, amounting in all to morethan 1000 florins, were contracted there is nothing to show.

From the facts that in several of the loans Dante was as-

sociated with his half-brother, and that his father-in-law

was security, it may be inferred that they were incurred

in the family interest. At any rate, to whatever cause

they may have been due, they were all punctiliously dis-

charged after Dante's death by his half-brother, Francesco,

and his sons, Pietro and Jacopo, who sold sundry parcels

of land for the purpose, as is recorded in various docu-

ments still preserved in the Florentine archives.^

' The documents are printed by Barbi, op. cit. pp. ii ff.

DANTE IN EXILE

CHAPTER I

I 302-1 32

I

Wanderings—Dante's fellow-exiles—Henry VII in Italy—His death

—

Fresh sentence against Dante—His retirement to Ravenna—Alleged visits

to Mantua, Verona, and Piacenza—Reputed a Sorcerer—Death and burial

—His tomb and epitaphs—Elegies.

NEVER again after the sentence of banishment pro-

nounced against him by Cante de' Gabrielli did

Dante set foot within the walls of his native city. Therest of his life, nearly twenty years, was spent in exile,

and for the most part in poverty, such as is foretold to

him by his ancestor Cacciaguida in the Heaven of Mars

:

" Thou shalt leave every thing beloved most dearly ; and

this is the shaft which the bow of exile first lets fly.

Thou shalt prove how salt the taste is of another's bread,

and how hard a path it is to go up and down another's

stairs."

'

In a passage at the beginning of the Convivio Dantegives a pathetic account of the miseries and mortifications

^ Paradiso, xvii. 55-60. It is most natural to suppose that among the" things beloved most dearly " left behind in Florence Dante intended to

include his wife. But this is not admitted by those who hold that Dante's

marriage was an unhappy one.

88

WANDERINGS 89

he endured during his wanderings as an exile. " Alas,"

he says, " would it had pleased the Dispenser of the Uni-

verse that I should never have had to make excuses for

myself; that neither others had sinned against me, nor I

had suffered this punishment unjustly, the punishment I

say of exile and of poverty ! Since it was the pleasure of the

citizens of the fairest and most renowned daughter of

Rome, Florence, to cast me out from her most sweet bosom(wherein I was born and brought up to the climax of mylife, and wherein I long with all my heart, with their good

leave, to repose my wearied spirit, and to end the days

allotted to me), wandering as a stranger through almost

every region to which our language reaches, I have gone

about as a beggar, showing against my will the wound of

fortune, which is often wont to be imputed unjustly to the

fault of him who is stricken, Verily I have been as a ship

without sails and without rudder, driven to various harbours

and shores by the parching wind which blows from pinching

poverty. And I have appeared vile in the eyes of many,

who, perhaps from some report of me, had imagined mein a different guise." ^

Elsewhere, in another of his works, he expresses his pity

for those who, like himself, languish in exile, and revisit

their home only in their dreams.^

Of Dante's movements from the time of his banishment

very little is known for certain. Leonardo Bruni says

that when the tidings of his ruin reached him at Rome,he hastened back to Tuscany and went to Siena, where

he learned further particulars of his sentence, and conse-

quently determined to make common cause with the other

exiles. He certainly appears at first to have thrown in his

lot with the rest, and to have looked, like them, to a return

' Convivio, i. 3, 11. 15-40.

^ De Vulgari Eloqnentia, ii. 6, II. 36-g.

90 DANTE IN EXILE

to Florence by forcible means. To this end they assembled

at Gargonza, a castle of the Ubertini between Arezzo and

Siena, and decided to enter into an alliance with the

Ghibellines of Tuscany and Romagna, fixing their head-

quarters at Arezzo, where they remained until 1304.

Dante, at any rate, was present at a meeting of the exiles,

held on 8 June, 1 302, in the church of San Godenzo, in

the Tuscan Apennines, about twenty miles from Florence,

when a convention was entered into with the Ubaldini,

the ancient enemies of Florence.

In the prophecy of Cacciaguida, already referred to,

Dante is warned that what should gall him most would

be the folly and wickedness of the company into which he

should be thrown; and it is foretold to him that he

should after a while dissociate himself from the rest of

the exiles, and make a party for himself.^ At what

particular juncture Dante did dissociate himself from his

fellow-exiles we cannot tell. It was probably before the

summer of 1304, for in July of that year the exiles, dis-

appointed in their expectations of a peaceable return to

Florence through the mediation of Cardinal Niccolo da

Prato, the legate of Benedict XI (who had recently suc-

ceeded Boniface VIII), made an abortive attempt from

Lastra, in concert with the Pistojans, to effect an entry

into the city—an attempt from which Dante appears to

have held aloof.

There is evidence of his having been at Forli in 1 303,^

and it was doubtless about this time that he separated

himself from "the worthless and vile company" of his

fellow-exiles ; not long after which he took refuge with

1 Paradiso, xvii. 61-9.

^ This is supplied by Flavio Biondo in his Historiae ah inclinato

Romano Imperio (see BuUettino delta Society Dantesca Italiana, No. 8

(1892), pp. 21-8, where the evidence is discussed by M. Barbi).

AT VERONA AND SARZANA 91

one of the Scaliger family, most probably Bartolommeodella Scala, at Verona, which Cacciaguida foretells to himas his "first refugej".^ "Here," writes Leonardo Bruni,

"he was very courteously received, and remained sometime, being now become very humble and seeking bygood deeds and good behaviour to win back the favour

of being allowed to return to Florence by a spontaneous

recall from the Government of the city. To this end he

laboured much, and wrote many times, not only to indivi-

dual members of the Government, but also to the people

;

and amongst the rest was a long letter beginning, ' Mypeople, what have I done to you ? '

" ^

How long Dante remained at Verona is not known. It

is impossible, for lack of information, to follow him with

any certainty in his wanderings, which, as he records in

the above-quoted passage of the Convivio, took him into

nearly every part of Italy, It is presumed, from a legal

document ' still in existence, that he was at Padua on 27

August, 1306; and from others* it is known that he was

shortly after (on 6 October in the same year) at Sarzana

in Lunigiana as agent for the Malaspini, where he was the

guest of Franceschino Malaspina. This visit to the Mala-

spini, " the honoured race which ceaises not to be adorned

with the glory of the purse and of the sword," is foretold to

Dante by Currado Malaspina, Franceschino's first cousin,

^Paradiso, xvii. 70-2.

^ Vita di Dante, ed. cit. pp. xx.-xxxi. No other trace of this letter has

been preserved.

' See Imbriani, Studi Danteschi, pp. 383-8. There is, however, grave

reason to doubt whether the " Dantinus quondam Alligerii de Florentia"

mentioned in this document can be Dante, since a " Dantinus " (presum-

ably the same) is mentioned again several times in Paduan documents

many years after Dante's death, e.g. in 1339, 1345, 1348, and 1350 (see

Zingarelli, Dante, p. 214).

^See Annual Report of the Cambridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society for

1892 (pp. 15-24).

92 DANTE IN EXILE

whom he meets in Purgatory.^ Dante on this occasion

acted as procurator for the Malaspini family in their nego-

tiations for peace with their neighbour, the Bishop of Luni,

which by Dante's means was successfully concluded. Theduration of his stay in Lunigiana is uncertain, but it prob-

ably did not last beyond the summer of 1 307.

His movements during the next few years are largely

a matter of conjecture. Some of his biographers state

that he went from Lunigiana to the Casentino (the upper

valley of the Arno above Florence) and to Forli ^ again,

and returned once more to Lunigiana ^ on his way to

* Paris. That Dante visited Paris during his exile is stated

both by Boccaccio and by Villani in his chronicle,* but at

what precise period this visit took place it is impossible to

say. Some are inclined to believe, from a phrase in a Latin

poem addressed to Petrarch by Boccaccio, that Dante

^ Purgatorio, Viii. 118-34.

" See BuUettino delta SocietcL Dantesca Italiana, No. 8 (1892), p. 27.

^ To this period (about 1308) is usually assigned Dante's supposed visit

to the Camaldolese Monastery of Santa Croce del Corvo in Lunigiana, an

account of which is given in a letter (of doubtful authenticity) from Frate

Ilario, one ofthe monks, to the Ghibelline leader, Uguccione della Faggi-

uola. According to the writer, Dante presented himself at the monastery,

and, being asked what he sought, answered " Peace ". The monk then

entered into conversation with Dante, who presently produced a book(the Inferno) from his bosom, and gave it to him with a request that hewould forward it to Uguccione, adding that if Uguccione desired to see

the other two parts of the poem, he would find them in the hands of the

Marquis Moroello Malaspina and King Frederick of Sicily (to whom re-

spectively the Purgatorio and Paradise are said to have been dedicated).

This letter has long been regarded as a forgery, possibly from the handof Boccaccio. But recent investigations have proved that at any rate

Boccaccio cannot have forged it, and there is now a tendency to accept it

as genuine (see Wicksteed and Gardner, Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio,

igo2, pp. 326-34 ; and Rajna, La Lettera di Frate Ilario, Perugia, 1904;.A translation of this letter, which was written in Latin, is given in Ap.' idix B.

* Bk. ix. ch. 136.

IN TUSCANY 93

came to England ;^ and it is even stated by Giovanni da

Serravalle, a fifteenth-century writer, that he studied in

the University of Oxford,^ but this is extremely doubtful.

There seems little doubt that Dante was in Italy between

September, 1310, and January, 131 1, when he addressed a

letter to the Princes and Peoples of Italy on the advent of

the Emperor Henry VII into Italy,—the Emperor through

whose means Dante hoped to be restored to Florence.

"Lo! now is the acceptable time," he writes, "wherein

arise the signs of consolation and peace. For a new day

is beginning to break, showing forth the dawn, which even

now is dispersing the darkness of our long night of tribula-

tion ; already the breezes from the East are springing up,

the face of the heavens grows rosy, and confirms the hopes

of the peoples with a peaceful calm. And we too, whohave long kept vigil through the night in the desert, we too

shall behold the looked-for joy."

'

He was certainly in Tuscany (probably as the guest of

Guido Novello of Battifolle^t-the-castle-ef-^eppilin the

Casentino) when he wrote his terrible letter to the Floren-

tines, dated "from the springs of the Arno," 31 March,

131 1, after he learned that they were preparing to resist

the Emperor by force. In this letter,* which is headed" Dante Alighieri, a Florentine and undeservedly an exile,

to the most iniquitous Florentines within the city," he

uses no measured terms, and does not hesitate to threaten

.' " Novisti forsan et ipse

Traxerit ut juvenem * Phcebus per celsa nivosi

Cyrrheos, mediosque sinus tacitosque recessus

Naturae, coelique vias terraeque marisque,

Aonios fontes, Farnasi culmen, et antra

Julia, Pariseos dudum serusque Britannos."

^ " Dilexit theologiam sacram, in qua diu studuit tam in Oxoniis in regno

Angliae, quam Parisiis in regno Franciae."

^ Epistola V. § I. * Epistola vi.

* I.e. Dantem.

94 DANTE IN EXILE

the Florentines with the direct vengeance of the Emperor." You," he thunders, " you, who transgress every law of

God and man, and whom the insatiable maw of avarice

urges headlong into every crime, does not the dread of the

second death haunt you, seeing that you first and you

alone, refusing the yoke of liberty, have set yourselves

against the glory of the Roman Emperor, the king of the

earth, and the servant of God ? The hope which you

vainly cherish in your madness will not be furthered by

this rebellion of yours, but by your resistance the just

wrath of the king at his coming will be but the more in-

flamed against you. Ifmy prophetic spirit be not deceived,

your city, worn out with long sufferings, shall be delivered

at the last into the hands of the stranger, after the greatest

part of you has been destroyed in death or in captivity,

and the few that shall be left to endure exile shall witness

her downfall with weeping and lamentation." ^

From the same place a few weeks later (on i6 April),

Dante addressed a letter to the Emperor himself, who was

at that time besieging Cremona, urging him to lay every-

thing else aside, and to come and crush without further

delay the viper Florence, as the most obstinate and

dangerous rebel against the Imperial authority. Fromthis letter it appears that Dante had been present at the

coronation of Henry with the iron crown at Milan, on

the day of Epiphany (6 January, 131 1), when ambas-

sadors were sent from nearly every city of Italy, except

Florence and her allies. " I too, who write for myself as

well as for others, have beheld thee most gracious, as be-

seems Imperial Majesty, and have heard thee mostclement, when my hands touched thy feet, and my lips

paid their tribute." ^

On 2 September of this same year (1311) was issued at

^Epistola vi. §§ 2, 3, 4. " Epistola vii. § 2.

HENRY VII. IN ITALY 95

Florence a proclamation ^ (known as the " Riforma di

Messer Baldo d' Aguglione," from the name of the Prior

who was responsible for it), offering pardon to a portion of

the Florentine exiles, but expressly excepting certain

others by name. Among these names was that of Dante

Alighieri, whose exclusion was no doubt largely due to

the letters mentioned above, and to his active sympathy

with the Imperial cause. To this proclamation the Em-peror issued a counterblast in the following Decemberfrom Genoa, in the shape of an edict declaring Florence to

be outside the pale of the Empire, which was followed byanother from Poggibonsi in February, 1 3 1 3, containing the

names of more than 600 Florentine citizens and subjects,

who were branded as rebels.

Nothing is known of Dante's whereabouts during these

years of deferred hopes and disappointments. Leonardo

Bruni states,^ apparently on the authority of a letter of

Dante's which has not been preserved, that when the

Emperor advanced against Florence and laid siege to the

city (in the autumn of 13 12), Dante out of reverence for

his native place would not accompany him, although he

had urged him to the attack. Dante had scoffed at the

idea that the Florentines could stand up against the

Imperial host. " Do you trust," he had written in the

letter already quoted,^ " do you tnist in your defence,

because you are girt by a contemptible rampart ? Whatshall it avail you to have girt you with a rampart, and to have

' The text is printed by Del Lungo in Dell' Esilio di Daftte, pp.

107 ff.

'Vita di Dante, ed. cit. p. xxi: "II tenne tanto la riverenza della

patria, che, venendo 1' imperadore contro a Firenze e ponendosi a campopresso alia porta, non vi voile essere, secondo lui scrive, contuttoche

confortatore fusse stato di sua venuta "

^Epistola vi. § 3.

96 DANTE IN EXILE

fortified yourselves with bulwarks and with battlements,^

when, terrible in gold, the eagle shall swoop down upon

you, which, soaring now over the Pyrenees, now over

Caucasus, now over Atlas, borne up by the breath of the

soldiery of heaven, gazed down of old upon the vast

expanse of ocean in its flight ?"

But the Imperial eagle was obliged to retire baffled,

leaving the viper uncrushed ; and in the following year,

while the Emperor was marching southward against

Naples, he was suddenly seized with sickness at Buon-

convento near Siena, where he died on 24 August, 13 13.

The news of his death was received with savage exultation

by the Florentines.^ To Dante it meant the final aban-

1 " The Florentines,'' says Villani, " fearing the coming of the Emperor,

resolved to enclose the city with moats from the Porta San Gallo to the

Porta Santo Ambrogio, and thence to the Arno ; and then from the Porta

San Gallo to. the Porta dal Prato d' Ognissanti, where the walls were

already begun, they had them raised eight cubits. And this work wasdone at once and very quickly ; and it was without doubt the salvation ol

the city, for it had been all open, the old walls having been in great part

pulled down, and the materials sold" (bk. ix. ch. lo).

^A few days after the event the following letter was addressed by the

Signoria of Florence to their allies announcing the news :" To you our

faithful brethren, with the greatest rejoicing in the world we announce by

these presents the blessed news, which our Lord Jesus Christ, looking downfrom on high' as well to the necessities of ourselves, and other true andfaithful Christians, the devoted servants of Holy Mother Church, as to

those of His own cause, has vouchsafed to us. To wit, that the most

savage tyrant, Henry, late Count of Luxemburg, whom the rebellious

persecutors from old time of said Mother Church, namely the Ghibellines,

the treacherous foes of you and of ourselves, called King of the Romans,and Emperor of Germany, and who under cover of the Empire had already

consumed and laid waste no small part of the Provinces of Lombardy andTuscany, ended his life on Friday last, the twenty-fourth day of this

month of August, in the territory of Buonconvento. Know further, that

the Aretines and the Ghibelline Conti Guidi have retired themselves

towards Arezzo, and the Pisans and Germans towards Pisa taking his

body, and all the Ghibellines who were with him have taken refuge in

the strongholds of their allies in the neighbourhood. . . . We beseech

LETTER TO THE ITALIAN CARDINALS 97

donment of any hope of a return to Florence. " On the

Emperor Henry's death," writes Bruni, "every hope of

Dante's was utterly destroyed ; for he had himself closed

up the way to forgiveness by his abusive writings against

the government of the commonwealth ; and there was nolonger any hope of return by force.''

Where Dante was when the fatal news reached him, andwhat his movements were at this time, is not known.

After the death of Clement V, on 20 April, 13 14, Danteaddressed a letter ^ to the Italian cardinals in conclave at

Carpentras, rebuking them for their backslidings and cor-

ruption, and calling upon them to make amends by electing

an Italian Pope, who should restore the Papal See to Rome.At some date subsequent to 14 June of that year, whenLucca fell into the hands of the Ghibelline captain, Uguc-cione della Faggiuola, Dante appears to have been in that

city ; and it has been conjectured that it may have been

during this stay that he formed the attachment for a

Lucchese lady named Gentucca, which is supposed to be

alluded to by Bonagiunta in Purgatory.^ What was the

real nature of his relations with this lady, who has been

identified with a certain Gentucca Morla,' wife of Cosciorino

Fondora of Lucca, we have no means of ascertaining.

you, therefore, dear brethren, to rejoice with ourselves over so great and

fortunate accidents."

(The original Latin text of this letter is printed by F. Bonaini, in Acta

Henrici VII Romanorum Imperatoris et Monumenta qucedam alia

suorum temporum historiam illustrantia, 1877, vol. ii. p. ccclxv; an

Italian translation is given by Del Lungo, in Dino Comfagni e la sua

Cronica, 1880, vol. i. pp. 637-8.

' Epistola viii.

'Purgatorio, xxiv. 37, 43-5.

' This Gentucca was the daughter of Ciucchino di Guglielmo di Morla of

Lucca. Her husband, Buonaccorso di Lazzaro di Fondora (familiarly

knovm as Coscio or Cosciorino Fondora) several times mentions her in

his will (dated 15 December, 13 17). Dante's (jentVicga is identified with

7

98 DANTE IN EXILE

In August, 1 3 1 5, the Ghibellines under the leadership of

Uguccione della Faggiuola, completely defeated the Flor-

entines and Tuscan Guelfs at Monte Catini, between Lucca

and Pistoja. This event was followed by a fresh sentence

from Florence against the exiled Whites. In this sent-

ence,i which is dated 6 November, 131 5, Dante and those

named with him, including Dante's sons this time, were

branded as Ghibellines and rebels, and condemned, if

captured, " to be taken to the place of justice (i.e. the

place of public execution), and there to have their heads

struck from their shoulders, so that they die outright."

On 2 June in the next year, however, an amnesty was

proclaimed by the Florentine chief magistrate, Lando of

Gubbio,^ and permission was granted to the majority ofthe

exiles to return to Florence, under certain degrading con-

ditions, including the payment of a fine and the perform-

ance of penance in the Baptistery. From this amnesty

all the exiles who had been originally condemned by the

Podesta, Cante de' Gabrielli, among whom of course was

Dante, were expressly excluded. Many of the exiles ap-

pear to have accepted the terms ; but Dante, who seemsat first to have been unaware of his exclusion, scornfully

rejected them." Is this, then," he writes to a friend in Florence, " is

this the generous recall of Dante Alighieri to his native

this lady on the strength of the statement of an early commentary on the

Divina Commedia (as yet unpublished), confirmed by documentary evidence(see C. Minutoli, Gentucca e gli altri Lucchesi nominati nella D. C, in

Dante e il suo Secolo, pp. 221-31).

' The text is printed by Del Lungo in Dell' Esilio di Dante, pp. 148 ff.

» This man, who bore the title of " bargello " is described by Villani (bk.

ix. ch. 76) as " uomo carnefice e crudele "- He was appointed chiefmagis-trate in May, 1316, but was displaced in the following October by CountGuido of BattifoUe, who was appointed Vipar iri Flprence by King Robertof Naples,

LETTER TO A FLORENTINE FRIEND 99

city, after the miseries of nearly fifteen years of exile ? Is

this the reward of innocence manifest to all the world, of

unceasing sweat and toil in study ? Far be it from the

friend of philosophy, so senseless a degradation, befitting

only a soul of clay, as to submit himself to be paraded like

a prisoner, as some infamous wretches have done ! Far

be it from the advocate of justice, after being wronged, to

pay tribute to them that wronged him, as though they had

deserved well of him ! No ! this is not the way for meto return to my country. If another can be found which

does not derogate from the fame and honour of Dante,

that will I take with no lagging steps. But if by no such

way Florence may be entered, then will il re-enter Flor-

ence never. What ! can I not everywhere gaze upon the

sun and the stars ? can I not under any sky meditate on

the most precious truths, without first rendering myself

inglorious, nay ignominious, in the eyes of the people and

city of Florence ? Nay, bread will not fail me !" ^

After again seeking shelter with the Scaligers at Verona,

this time as the guest of Can Grande della Scala, Dante,

on the invitation of Guido Novello da Polenta, went to

Ravenna (probably in 13 17 or 1318), " where," says Boc-

caccio, " he was honourably received by the lord of that

city, who revived his fallen hopes with kindly encourage-

ment, and, giving him abundantly such things as he

needed, kept him there at his court for many years, nay,

even to the end of his days ".^ At Ravenna, his last re-

fuge, where his sons Pietro and Jacopo and his daughter

Beatrice resided with him, Dante appears to have lived in

1 Epistola ix. §§ 3, 4. A critical text of this letter is printed in the

Bullettino della Societa Dantesca Italiana, N.S. (1905), xii. 122-3, by A.

della Torre, who points out that the correct reading at the beginning of

§ 3 is not, as hitherto usually printed, reuocatio gloriosa, but reiiocntig

generosa,

^ Vita di Dante, ei, Ma?rs-Leone, § 5, p. 30.

loo DANTE IN EXILE

congenial company ; ^ and here he put the finishing touches

to his " sacred poem," the Divina Commedia, his work upon

which he tells us " had made him lean for many years ".^

Boccaccio states that at Ravenna many scholars came

to Dante for instruction in the poetic art, especially in ver-

nacular poetry, which he first brought into repute among

Italians.^ While he was here, after the Inferno and Pur-

gatorio had been completed and made public, Dante was

invited by a poet and professor of Bologna, Giovanni del

Virgilio, in a Latin poem,* to come and receive the laurel

crown at Bologna. To this suggestion Dante sent a reply

in the form of a Latin eclogue ^ declining the invitation,

the laurel having no attraction for him unless conferred

by his own fellow-citizens in the same Baptistery where as

a child he had received the name which he was to make

so famous.

At the end of 13 19 or beginning of 1320 Dante appears

to have paid a visit to Mantua, on which occasion a dis-

1 Among Dante's friends and acquaintances at Ravenna the names have

been preserved of Dino Perini, a young notary of Florence (see Ricci,

L' Ultimo Rifugio di Dante, pp. gg ff.), and Fiduccio de' Milotti, a

physician of Certaldo (see Ricci, op. cit. pp. 100 ff.), who figure respectively

as Meliboeus and Alphesiboeus in Dante's Latin eclogues (see below,

pp. 254-6). Another friend was Menghino Mezzano, a notary (and,

apparently, later an ecclesiastic) of Ravenna, who wrote an epitaph on

Dante, and whose intimacy with the poet is attested by Coluccio Salutati

(see below, p. 105 ; and Ricci, op. cit, pp. 218 ff.). Yet another ac-

quaintance is said to have been Bernardo Canaccio, of Bologna, the

author of the epitaph inscribed on Dante's tomb (" Jura Monarchiae,"

etc.) (see below, p. 105 ; and Ricci, op, cit. pp. 237 ff.). Besides these,

Boccaccio mentions Piero di Giardino (see below, pp. 103, 119; and

Ricci, op. cit. pp. 209 ff.).

^ Paradiso, xxv. 1-3.

' Vita di Dante, ed. cit. § 6, p. 31.

^ Printed in the Oxford Dante, pp. 185-6.

* Printed in the Oxford Dante, pp. 186-7. As to the genuineness of this

poetical correspondence between Giovanni del Virgilio and Dante, see be-

low p. 252.

DANTE REPUTED A SORCERER loi

cussion was started as to the relative levels of land and

water on the surface of the globe. Dante subsequently

wrote a treatise on the subject (if we may trust the evi-

dence of the treatise De Aqua et Terra ^ traditionally as-

cribed to him), which was delivered as a public dissertation

at Verona, on 20 January, 1320.

From the mention of Dante's name in a document

lately discovered in the Vatican ^ it has been inferred^that

Dante was at Piacenza some time in 13 19 or 1320. Thedocument in question, which is incomplete, contains the

account of a process instituted at the Papal Court at Avig-

non against Matteo Visconti of Milan, and his son Gale-

azzo,' for an attempt upon the life of Pope John XXII by

means of sorcery. The story of the episode, which is an

exceedingly curious one, as showing that in his own life-

time Dante had the reputation of a sorcerer, is briefly as

follows. In October, 13 19, Matteo Visconti sent for a

certain Bartolommeo Canolati who was reputed to be an

adept in the black art, and showed him a small silver figure

of a man, on the forehead of which was written " Jacobus *

papa Johannes". He then explained to Bartolommeothat he wanted him to apply to this image ^ the requisite

" fumigations " and incantations to ensure the death of the

1 See below, pp. 256 ff.

^See Giornale Dantesco, iv. 126-30.

^ This is the Galeazzo who is referred to by Dante in Purgatorio, viii.

79-81, in connection with his marriage to Beatrice of Este, the widow of

Nino Visconti of Pisa.

* The Pope's name was Jacques D' Euse.

° Dante refers in the Divina Commedia to the practice of witchcraft

upon people by means of images made in their likeness. Speaking of the

witches in Malebolge, he says " Fecer malie con erbe e con imago " (Inf.

XX. 123) ; upon which the Anonimo Fiorentino comments :" Puossi fare

malie per virtii di certe erbe medianti alcune parole, o per imagini di cera

d' altro fatte in certi punti et per certo modo che, tenendo queste imagini

al fuoco o ficcando loro spilletti nel capo, cosi pare che senta colui a cui

imagine elle son fatte, come la imagine che si strugga al fuoco,"

102 DANTE IN EXILE

Pope, who was his bitter enemy.^ Bartolommeo declared

that he did not know how to do anything of the sort, but

being taxed with having in his possession a powerful drug

adapted for the purpose, he admitted that he had once had

it, but protested that at the bidding of a friar he had

thrown it all away. Matteo thereupon dismissed him

with an injunction to hold his tongue, on pain of death.

Bartolommeo, however, divulged what he had seen, and

the matter came to the ears of the Pope, who summoned

him to Avignon, where he was examined before three

cardinals, one of whom was Bertrand du Pouget, the same

who subsequently condemned Dante's De Monarchia to the

flames.^ As the result of this inquisition, in the following

February proceedings were initiated against the Visconti

for conspiring against the life of the Pope. Meanwhile

another sorcerer whom Matteo had employed having failed

to produce any effect by his incantations, Galeazzo sent

for Bartolommeo to Piacenza, and repeated the proposal

that he should practise on the image. By way of putting

him on his mettle Galeazzo told him that he had sent for

Maestro Dante Alighieri of Florence to perform the task,

but that he had far rather that Bartolommeo should under-

take it, as he had no wish to let Dante have any hand in

the matter.^ The record states that Bartolommeo said

i"Vide Bartholomee, ecce istara ymaginem quam feci fieri ad de-

structioneAi istius pape qui me persequitui, et est necessarium quod sub-

fumigetur, et quia tu scis facere subfumigationem in talibus, volo quod

tu facias subfumigationes isti ymagini cum solemnitatibus convenientibus."

^See below, p. 232.

' " Galeas dixit eidem Bartholomeo ; Scias quod ego feci venire ad

me magistrum Dante Alegriro {sic) de Florencia pro isto eodem negocio

pro quo rogo te. Cui Bartholomeus dixit: Sciatis quod multum placet

michi quod ille faciat ea que petitis. Cui Bartholomeo dictus Galeas dixit

:

Scias Bartholomee quod pro aliqua re de mundo ego non sustinerem quod

dictus Dante Alegiro (sic) in predictas poneret manum suam vel aliquid

faceret nee revelarem sibi istud negocium qui daret michi mille floreni [sic)

auri, quia volo quod tu facias, quia de te multum confido."

DEATH AT RAVENNA 103

he would think the matter over—but the sequel to the_

story is lost. If Galeazzo's statement about Dante is^be taken literally it would appear that Dante was in Pia-

cenza somewhere about the date of this transaction, towards

the end of 13 19 or the beginning of 1320.

In the summer of 1321, a difference having arisen be-

tween Ravenna and Venice, on account of an affray in

which several Venetian sailors were killed, Guido da Pol-

enta sent an embassy to the Doge of Venice, of which

Dante was a member. The ambassadors were ill received

by the Venetians, who, it is said, refused them permission

to return by sea, and obliged them to make the journey

overland along the malarious seaboard. The consequences

to Dante were fatal, for he contracted a fever (as is sup-

posed) on the way, and, growing worse after his return to

Ravenna, died in that city on 14 September, 1321, aged

fifty-six years and four months.^ At Ravenna Dante was

buried, and there, " by the upbraiding shore," his remains

still rest, in spite of repeated efforts on the part of Florence

' Boccaccio in his comment on the opening line of the Commedia, has

an interesting note as to Dante's age at the time of his death, which

proves incidentally how carefully Boccaccio made his inquiries with re-

gard to the details of Dante's life. " That Dante was thirty-five," he says,

" at the time when he first awakened to the error of his ways is confirmed

by what was told me by a worthy man, named Ser Piero, son of M. Giar-

dino of Ravenna, who was one of Dante's most intimate friends and ser-

vants at Ravenna. He affirmed that he had it from Dante, while he was

lying sick of the illness of which he died, that he had passed his fifty-sixth

year by as many months as from the previous May to that day. And it

is well known that Dante died on the fourteenth day of September in the

year 1321 " {Comento, i. 104-5). Inasmuch as Giovanni del Virgilio and

Menghino Mezzano in their epitaphs on Dante speak of his death as hav-

ing taken place " septembris idibus," some suppose that he actually died

on the evening of 13 September (see Corrado Ricci, L' Ultimo Rifugio di

Dante, pp. 157-8). It is probable, however, that the exigencies of metre

had more weight with these writers than considerations of scrupulous ac-

curacy.

I04 DANTE IN EXILE

to secure possession of " the metaphorical ashes of the man

of whom they had threatened to make literal cinders if

they could catch him alive "}

" The noble knight, Guido da Polenta," writes Boccac-

cio, " placed the dead body of Dante, adorned with the

insignia of a poet,^ upon a funeral bier, and caused it to be

borne upon the shoulders of his most reverend citizens to

the place of the Minor Friars in Ravenna, with such

honour as he deemed worthy ofthe illustrious dead. Andhaving followed him to this place, in the midst ofa public

lamentation, Guido had the body laid in a sarcophagus of

stone, wherein it reposes to this day. Afterwards return-

ing to the house where Dante had formerly lived, accord-

ing to the custom of Ravenna, Guido himself pronounced

a long and ornate discourse, as well in commendation of

the great learning and virtue of the dead man, as for the

consolation of his friends whom he had left to mourn him

in bitter sorrow. And Guido purposed, had his estate

and life endured, to honour Dante with so splendid a tomb,

that if no other merit of his had kept his name alive

among future generations, this memorial alone would have

preserved it. This laudable purpose was in a brief space

made known to certain who at that time were the most

renowned poets in Romagna ; so that each, not only to

exhibit his own powers, but also to testify to the love he

bore toward the dead poet, and to win ithe grace and

favour of the lord Guido, who they were aware had this

at his heart—each, I say, composed an epitaph in verse

for inscription on the tomb that was to be, which with

fitting praise should make known to posterity what

1J. R. Lowell.

2 The remains of laurel leaves, no doubt the relics of the poet's wreath,

were found in the tomb when it was opened at the beginning of the six-

teenth century, and again in 1865 (see below, pp. 113, 117).

DANTE'S TOMB AT RAVENNA 105

manner of man he was who lay within. And these verses

they sent to the illustrious lord, who through the evil stroke

of Fortune not long after lost his estate and died at

Bologna; on which account the making of the tomb

and the inscription of the verses thereon was left un-

done." ^

Boccaccio goes on to say that many years afterwards

he was shown some of t^ie verses which had been com-

posed for Dante's epitaph, but that he did not consider

any of them worthy of preservation, saving only fourteen

lines by Giovanni del Virgilio of Bologna, which he trans-

scribes.^ The sarcophagus (no doubt an ancient one) in

which Dante's remains were deposited by Guido da

Polenta was apparently left without any inscription until

late in the fourteenth century. It is known, from the re-

cord of an eye-witness, that in the year 1378 there were

two epitaphs inscribed upon the tomb.* One of these,

consisting of six hexameters,* was by Menghino Mezzanoof Ravenna, a contemporary and frierid of Dante ;

^ the

other, consisting of three rhyming hexameter couplets, was

by a certain Bernardo Canaccio, who is conjectured also

to have been personally acquainted with Dante. This

second epitaph, which runs as follows :

—

1 Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 6, pp. 32-3.

^ It was long supposed that these lines (Latin elegiacs, beginning

:

" Theologus Dantes, nuUius dogmatis expers ") were inscribed on Dante's

tomb, but Corrado Ricci has shown that this was not the case (see

L' Ultimo Rifugio di Dante, pp. 252 ff.).

' See Ricci, op. cit. p. 259.* Beginning :

" Inclita fama cuius universum penetrat orbem ".

' Coluccio Salutati, in a letter written from Florence on 2 October,

I399i speaks ofhim as " notus quondam familiaris et socius Dantis nostri,"

and says that he was a close student of the Divina Commedia, on which

he believed him to have written a commentary (see F. Novati, Epistolario

di Coluccio Salutati, vol. iii. p. 374).

io6 DANTE IN EXILE

Jura Monarchiae superos Phlegetonta lacusque

Lustrando cecini voluerunt fata quousque ;

Sed quia pars cessit melioribus hospita castris

Actoremque suum petiit felicior astris,

Hie claudor Dantes patriis extorris ab oris

Quem genuit parvi Florentia mater amoris.i

—

was till comparatively recently supposed to have been

written by Dante himself. The real author, however, was

established to be Bernardo Canaccio by the discovery

about fifty years ago of a passage in a fourteenth century

manuscript of the Commedia, in the Bodleian Library at

Oxford, in which the lines are ascribed to him by name.^

Dante's burial-place, left incomplete, as Boccaccio re-

cords, owing to the misfortunes which overtook Guido da

Polenta, appears to have been neglected and to have gradu-

ally fallen into decay. The tomb was restored in 1483

by Bernardo Bembo (father of the celebrated cardinal,

Pietro Bembo), who was at that -time Praetor , of the

Venetian Republic in Ravenna. He entrusted the workto the Venetian sculptor and architect, Pietro Lombardi,

who, among other things, recarved the face of the sarco-

phagus, and inscribed upon it the epitaph of Canaccio

mentioned above, to which the letters S. V. F.' were pre-

fixed, evidently under the impression that the author of

' Englished as follows by the English traveller, Fynes Moryson, whenhe was at Ravenna in 1594 :

—

The Monarchies, Gods, Lakes, and Phlegeton,

I searcht and sung, while my Fates did permit

;

But since my better part to heaven is gone,

And with his Maker mongst the starres doth sit,

I Dantes a poore banished man lie here,

Whom Florence Mother of scant Love did beare.

For " scant " in the last line Moryson (or his printers) substituted" sweet " (see Itinerary, ed. 1617, part i. p. 95).

2 See Ricci, op. cit. p. 264.

3 That is, " Sibi Vivens Fecit ".

DANTE S TOMB AT RAVENNA

ELEGIES ON DANTE'S DEATH 107

the lines was Dante himself; while the epitaph of

Menghino Mezzano was omitted.

Much of the work executed by Lombardi under Bembo's

directions, including the inscribed epitaph, and the marble

relief of Dante reading at a desk, remains to this day.-'

The tomb was a second time restored, more than two

hundred years later (in 1692) by Cardinal Domenico

Maria Corsi, the Papal Legate ^ ; and a third time, in

1780, by Cardinal Luigi Valenti Gonzaga, who erected

the mausoleum, surmounted by a dome, as it now stands.

Not only was the death of Dante recorded as an event

of importance by his fellow-citizen, Giovanni Villani, in

his Florentine chronicle,^ but numerous elegies were

written on the occasion by friends and contemporaries

of the poet in various parts of Italy. Among these were

poems by Cino da Pistoja, and Giovanni Quirini of

Venice, with both ofwhom Dante had exchanged sonnets in

his lifetime.* Cino, who thirty years before had addressed

a canzone to Dante on the death of Beatrice,^ now wrote

a canzone on Dante's own death, addressed to Love, whose

^ See plate opposite. Bembo commemorated his restoration of the tomb

in. a Latin inscription (beginning :" Exigua tumuli Dantes hie sorte

jacebas "), which was affixed to the wall at the left side of the tomb, and

in which he states that before his restoration the tomb was almost un-

recognisable. This inscription, which is still preserved, though in a

different situation, was transcribed by Fynes Moryson in 1594.

2 An interesting engraving of the tomb, as it appeared after this second

restoration, is inserted in the first volume of the edition of Dante's works

published by Antonio Zatta at Venice in 1757.

3 " Nel anno 1321, del mese di Luglio,* mori Dante Alighieri di Firenze

nella citta di Ravenna in Romagna . . . e in Ravenna dinanzi alia porta

della chiesa maggiore fu seppellito a grande onore, in abito di poeta e di

grande filosafo" (bk. ix. ch. 136).

^See above, p. 50; see also Zingarelli's Dante, pp. 318-20. A sonnet

of Dante to Quirini (Son. xxxvii.) is translated by Rossetti in Dante and his

Circle, p. 240.

' See above, p. 49.

* Villani's mistake for September.

io8 DANTE IN EXILE

ardent and faithful votary Dante had ever been ; after be-

wailing the bitter loss sustained by all lovers of the Italian

tongue, of which Dante had been, as it were, the fount and

source, he turns to Florence and points to the fulfilment

of Dante's own prophecy in the Inferno (xv. 72) that

however much his native city might desire to have him

back her wish would be unavailing; he concludes with

congratulations to Ravenna on being deservedly in posses-

sion of the great treasure which Florence had cast out.^

Quirini, besides a lament on Dante's death, wrote a sonnet

in defence of his friend's memory against the imputations

of Cecco d' Ascoli, and he addressed another to CanGrande della Scala, urging him to give to the world with-

out delay the cantos of the Paradiso which had not yet

been made public.^ Quirini's lament, which is an eloquent

testimony to the estimation in which Dante was held by

his contemporaries, is as follows :

—

If it hath happed for any mortal manThat sun or moon was darkened, or on high

Comet appeared, portending sudden change,

Reverse of fortune, and disaster dire

;

A greater portent should we look for now,

And signs more strange than e'er were seen before,

Since death relentless, black and bitter death.

Hath quenched the brilliant and resplendent rays

That beamed from out the noble breast of him.

Our sacred bard, the father of our tongue.

Who glowed with radiance as of one divine.

Alas I the Muses now are sunken low.

The poet's art hath fallen on evil days.

Which erst was held in worship and renown.

The whole world weeps the glorious Dante dead

—

Him thou, Ravenna, heldest dear in life.

And boldest now, and hence are held more dear.^

1 The original is printed in Rime diM. Cino da Pistoja, ordinate da G.Carducci, Firenze, 1862, pp. 136-7.

* See Zingarelli, op. cit. pp. 326, 330-1.

' The original is printed by Zingarelli, op. cit, p. 348.

CHAPTER II

Boccaccio's rebuke to the Florentines—Efforts of Florence to get pos-

session of Dante's remains—Leo X grants permission for their removal

—

Disappearance of the remains—Their accidental discovery during the

commemoration of the sixth centenary of Dante's birth—Public exhibition

of them at Ravenna, and subsequent re-interment.

THE history of Dante's remains from the time of their

burial by Guido da Polenta in 1321 is a most

curious one, and shows how jealously the people of

Ravenna guarded the treasure which had been deposited

in their keeping. Boccaccio, in a chapter of his Life of

Dante, headed " A Rebuke to the Florentines," ^ reproaches

them with their treatment of Dante, and urges them at

least to recall his dead body from exile, adding, however,

that he feels sure their request for his remains would be

refused.

" Oh ! ungrateful country," he exclaims, " what madness,

what blindness possessed you to drive out your most

valued citizen, your chiefest benefactor, your one poet,

with such unheard-of cruelty, and to keep him in exile ?

If perchance you excuse yourself on the ground of the

common fury of that time, why, when your anger was ap-

peased and your passion abated, and you repented you of

your act, why did you not recall him ? Alas ! your Dante

Alighieri died in that exile to which you, envious of his

merit, unjustly sent him. Oh ! unspeakable shame, that

' Viia di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 7, pp. 35-42.

109

no DANTE IN EXILE

a mother should regard with jealousy the virtues of her

own son ! Now you are freed from that disquietude, nowhe is dead you live secure amid your own imperfections,

and can put an end to your long and unjust persecutions.

He cannot in death do to you what he never in life would

have done ; he lies beneath another sky than yours, nor

do you ever expect to behold him again, save on that day

when you shall see once more all your citizens, whose

iniquities by the just Judge shall be visited and rewarded.

If then, as we believe, all hatred, and anger, and enmity

cease at the death of whoso dies, do you now begin to

return to your old self, and to your right mind ; begin to

think with shame ofhow you acted contrary to your ancient

humanity;prove yourself now a mother, and no longer

a foe, and grant to your son the tears that are his due,

and show to him the love of a mother ; seek at least to

regain him in death, whom when alive you rejected, nay

drove out as a malefactor, and restore to his memory the

citizenship, the welcome, the grace you denied to himself.

Of a truth, although you were wayward and ungrateful to

him, he always revered you as a mother, and, though you

deprived him of your citizenship, yet did he never seek

to deprive you of the glory which from his works must

ensue to you. A Florentine always, in spite of his long

exile, he called himself, and would be called, always pre-

ferring you and loving you. What then will you do?Will you for ever remain stiff-necked in your injustice ?

Will you show less humanity than the pagans, who, weread, not only begged back the bodies of their dead, but

were ever ready to meet death like heroes in order to get

them back ? Who doubts that the Mantuans, who to this

day reverence the poor hut and the fields that once wereVirgil's, would have bestowed on him honourable burial

had not the Emperor Augustus transported his bones

BOCCACCIO'S REBUKE TO FLORENCE in

from Brundusium to Naples, and ordained that city as

their last resting-place ?

" Do you then seek to be the guardian of your Dante.

Ask for him back again, making a show of this humanity,

even if you do not desire to have him back ; with this pre-

tence at least you will rid yourself of a part of the reproach

you have so justly incurred. Ask for him back again ! I

am certain he will never be given back to you, and thus you

will at once have made a show of compassion, and, being

refused, may yet indulge your natural cruelty

!

" But to what do I urge you ? Hardly do I believe, if

dead bodies have any feeling, that Dante's body would

remove from where it now lies, in order to return to you.

He lies in company more honourable than any you can

offer him. He lies in Ravenna, a city by far more venerable

in years than yourself ; and though in her old age she shows

somewhat of decay, yet in her youth she was by far more

flourishing than you are now. She is, as it were, a vast

sepulchre of holy bodies, so that no foot can an3^where

press her soil, without treading above the most sacred

ashes. Who then would wish to return to you and be laid

amongst your dead, who, one must believe, still retain the

evil passions they cherished in their lifetime, and fly one

from the other, carrying their enmities into the grave ?

" Ravenna, bathed as she is in the most precious blood

of numberless martyrs, whose remains she to this day pre-

serves with the greatest reverence, as she does the bodies

of many high and mighty emperors and other men of high

renown, either for their long ancestry or for their noble

deeds, Ravenna, I say, rejoices not a little that it has been

granted to her of God, in addition to her other privileges,

to be the perpetual guardian of so great a treasure as the

body of him whose works are the admiration of the whole

world, him of whom you knew not how to be worthy.

112 DANTE IN EXILE

But of a surety, her pride in possessing Dante is not so

great as her envy ofyou by whose name he called himself;

for she grieves that she will be remembered only on ac-

count of his last day, while you will be famous on account

of his first. Persist then in your ingratitude, while Ra-

venna, decked with your honours, shall boast herself to the

generations to come !

"

Boccaccio was a true prophet. Five times the Floren-

tines begged Ravenna to return to his native city the

ashes of their great poet, each time in vain.

The first request was made in 1 396, three-quarters of a

century after Dante's death. On this occasion it was pro-

posed to erect monuments in the Cathedral of Santa Maria

del Fiore to five illustrious citizens of Florence, viz. Ac-

cursius the great legist, Dante, Petrarch, Zanobi da Strada,

and Boccaccio (the names being mentioned in that order

in the official document),^ and it was resolved to secure if

possible their mortal remains, doubtless for honourable

interment at the same time. The petition for Dante's

remains was refused by the Polenta family, the then lords

of Ravenna; and a second request, preferred on similar

grounds some thirty years later (1430), was likewise

refused.^

A third attemfft appears to have been made in 1476,

when interest was made with the Venetian ambassador

(presumably Bernardo Bembo) by Lorenzo de' Medici ;^

but, though the ambassador promised compliance, nothing

was done, and the hopes of Florence were once more dis-

appointed.

At the beginning of the sixteenth- century a fourth andmost determined attempt was made by the Florentines to

'The text is printed by Del Lungo in DeW Esilio di Dante, pp. 170-5,

"See Del Lungo, op. cit. pp. 176-7.

3 Se? Del Lungo, 0^. cit. pp. 178-9.

FATE OF DANTE'S REMAINS 113

get possession of Dante's remains, an attempt which had

very remarkable consequences. From a letter written to

Pietro Bembo, secretary to Leo X, in June, 1 5 1 5, it appears

that Leo, who belonged to the Medici family of Florence

(he was the son of Lorenzo), and was also by virtue of the

league of Cambrai (1509) lord of Ravenna, had granted or

promised to the Florentines permission to remove the

poet's remains from Ravenna. Four years later (in i S 19)

a formal memorial ^ was presented to Leo by the Medicean

Academy, urging that the removal should be carried out,

among the signatories being one of the Portinari, a de-

scendant of the family to which Beatrice belonged. This

memorial was endorsed by the great sculptor, Michel

Angelo, who expressed his willingness to design and him-

self execute a fitting sepulchre. Leo granted the request

of the Academicians, and forthwith a mission was des-

patched to Ravenna to bring back' Dante's bones to Flor-

ence. But meanwhile the custodians of the poet's re-

mains had taken the alarm, and when the tomb was

opened by the Florentine envoys nothing was to be seen

but some fragments of bone and a few withered laurel

leaves, the relics no doubt of the poet's crown which was

laid upon the bier at the time of burial. In an account

of the proceedings submitted to Leo the following " ex-

planation" was offered ofthe disappearance ofthe remains :

" The much wished-for translation of Dante's remains did

not take place, inasmuch as the two delegates of the

Academy who were sent for the purpose found Dante

neither in soul nor in body ; and it is supposed that, as in

his lifetime he journeyed in soul and in body through Hell,

Purgatory, and Paradise, so in death he must have been

received, body and soul, into one of those realms "?

' The text is printed by Del Lungo, op. cit. pp. 183-8.

2 See Corrado Ricci, V Ultimo Rifugio di Dante, p. 339.

8

114 DANTE IN EXILE

There is little doubt that Dante's bones, which were

still intact in 1483 when Bernardo Bembo restored the

tomb, were secretly removed by the Franciscans in charge,

between 15 15 and 15 19, the period when the question of

their translation to Florence was being agitated by the

Medicean Academy, armed with the permission of Leo X.

The secret of their disappearance was well kept in

Ravenna. Two hundred and sixty years later (in 1780)

the tomb was once more restored, and, at the inauguration

by Cardinal Valenti Gonzaga, it was opened for the pur-

pose of verifying the remains. The official account of the

proceeding was couched in vague terms, which were ob

viously intended to conceal the fact that the tomb was

found to be empty. An unofficial account, however, in

the shape of an entry by one of the Franciscan monks in

his missal, which has been preserved at Ravenna, contains

the bald statement that " Dante's sarcophagus was opened

and nothing was found inside, whereupon it was sealed upagain with the Cardinal's seal, and silence was observed as

to the whole matter, thus leaving the old opinion (as to

the presence of the remains) undisturbed "}

The secret of the removal of the remains was still pre-

served from the public, but that it was known to a select

few is evident from the fact that sixty years after the

above incident Filippo Mordani, in his memoir of Dionigi

Strocchi, records that the latter said to him on i July,

1 84 1: "I wish to tell you something, now that we are

alone. The tomb of Dante is empty; the bones are nolonger there. This was told me by your Archbishop, Mgr.Codronchi. But I pray you not to breathe a word of it,

for it must remain a secret." ^

At last, when preparations were being made throughoutItaly for the celebration of the sixth centenary of Dante's

' See Ricci, op. cit. p. 346. " See Ricci, op, cit. p. 347.

DISCOVERY OF DANTE'S REMAINS 115

birth, in 1865, the Florentines once more petitioned for

the return of Dante's remains to his native city. For the

fifth and last time the request was refused, the Municipality

of Ravenna claiming in their reply " that the deposit of the

sacred bones of Dante Alighieri in Ravenna could nolonger, in view of the happily changed conditions of Italy,

be regarded as a perpetuation of his exile, inasmuch as all

the cities of Italy were now united together by a lasting

bond under one and the same government "?

Whether the Municipality, when they returned this

answer, were aware that " the sacred bones "' of Dante nolonger reposed in the tomb which was supposed to contain

them, does not appear. At any rate the secret of the

empty tomb could not much longer be kept from the

world at large, for the opening of the tomb and the iden-

tification of the poet's remains was part of the programmeof the sexcentenary celebration. Preparations for this

ceremony were already in progress when the startling an-

nouncement was made that a wooden coffin containing

the actual bones of Dante had been accidentally discovered

bricked up in a cavity in a neighbouring wall.

The story of this remarkable discovery is as follows.

In the course of some operations in the Braccioforte Chapel,

adjoining the tomb, in connection with the coming celebra-

tion, it became necessary to introduce a pump for the pur-

pose of drawing off an accumulation of water. In order

to give room for the pump-handle to work, it was decided

to make a cavity in an old wall at the spot where the pumpwas to be fixed. While the mason was at work with his

pick removing the stones, he suddenly struck upon some-

thing wooden, which gave back a hollow sound. Curious

to find out what this might be, he carefully removed the

remaining stones, and to his great surprise came upon a

' The correspondence is printed by Del Lungo, op. cit, pp. 195-200.

ii6 DANTE IN EXILE

wooden chest or coffin. On lifting the chest one of the

planks fell out and revealed a human skeleton, which on a

closer inspection proved to be that of Dante, the identity

of the remains being established beyond doubt by the

discovery of two inscriptions on the chest. One of these,

written in ink on the bottom plank, was: Dantis ossa

denuper revisa die 3 Junii 1677.-' The other, written on

the lid of the chest, ran : Dantis ossa a me Fre Antonio

Santi hieposita Ana 1677 die 18 Octobris.^

The precious relics were at once carefully removed and

deposited in the adjoining mausoleum; The news of the

discovery meanwhile spread rapidly through the city. Theauthorities, accompanied by notaries, arrived in haste, andin their presence an official account was drawn up, record-

ing the facts of the discovery, and the result of a' pro-

fessional examination of the skeleton, which, with the

exception of a few missing bones, was found to be intact:

The excitement amongst the populace was intense, and

the crowd could with difficulty be prevented from breaking

in. After this discovery the next step, in order to removeall possible doubt, was to open the sarcophagus in which

Dante's remains had originally been deposited by Guido

da Polenta in 1321, and in which they were supposed byall, except the few who had been in the secret, to have

been left undisturbed ever since. It was an anxious

moment for the authorities, who would have been terribly

embarrassed if a second skeleton had been discovered

—

Dante could not have had two skeletons ! An account of

the proceedings, furnished by an eye-witness, was given byDr. Moore in the English Historical Review in October,

1888.

' " Dante's bones revisited anew on 3 June, 1677."

2"D'ante's bones, placed here by me, Friar Antonio Santi, on 18October 1677 " (see Ricci, op. cit. pp. 348-9).

DISCOVERY OF DANTE'S REMAINS 117

" The writer," he says, " met, a few years ago, one whowas present on this most interesting occasion, and who had

carried away, and still preserved as a relic, a small portion

of the precious dust which was found at the bottom of the

tomb. This examination took place on 7 June, 1865, and

the tomb was then found to be empty, with the exception

of a little earthy or dusty substance, and a few bones cor-

responding with most ofthose missing in the chest recently

discovered, and these were certified by the surgeon present

to belong undoubtedly to the same skeleton. There were

found in it, also, a few withered laurel leaves, which possess

a special interest in reference to the description of Dante's

burial.^ ... It contained, further, some broken fragments

of Greek marble, of the same material as the sarcophagus

itself. These were soon found to proceed from a rude hole

which had been knocked through the sarcophagus itself at

the back, precisely at the part accessible only from the in-

side of the monastery, through which, beyond all doubt, the

removal of the bones had been effected. This hole had

been stopped up with bricks and cement, and then plastered

over outside so as to leave no mark."

The reason for the violation of Dante's tomb and for the

secret removal of his remains by the Franciscans of the

adjoining monastery was, it can hardly be doubted, the

alarm created by the news that permission had . been

granted for the transference of the remains to Florence by

Pope Leo X in 1515. The precious relics must have been

secreted in the monastery for a hundred and fifty years and

more before they were deposited in the cavity where they

were found in 1865.

' It is evident from this account that the contents of the sarcophagus

had not been disturbed since it was opened, three hundred and fifty years

before, by the envoys of the Medicean Academy, who found that Dante's

remains had been removed. See above, p. 113.

ii8 DANTE IN EXILE

Having thus been satisfactorily verified, Dante's skeleton

was put together and laid on white velvet under a glass

case, which was exhibited during the three days of 24, 25,

and 26 June, in the Braccioforte Chapel. Here the re-

mains were reverently visited by thousands of visitors from

every part of Italy. " The old and the infirm were sup-

ported through the crowd, and children, too young to be

conscious of what they saw, were taken up to the crystal

coffin, in order that in after years they might say that they

also had gazed on Dante." ^

On 26 June the bones were enclosed in a double coffin

of walnut and lead, and then solemnly consigned once

more to the original sarcophagus, in which they had first

been laid at the time of the poet's death, and there

they now rest, safe in the custody of the faithful citizens

of Ravenna, who have been true to their charge for

nearly 600 years.

^

^ Dante at Ravenna, by C. M, Phillimore, whose v/ork is more or less

of a compilation from L' Ultimo Rifugio di Dante Alighieri (Milano,

i8gi) by Corrado Ricci. From the latter is derived for the most part the

information given above as to the fate of Dante's remains.

^ A cast of the skeleton as it lay in state, and the wooden coffin in

which the remains were placed in 1677, and in which they were discovered

in 1865, are preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Ravenna.

PORTRAIT OF DANTE

From Codex 1040 in the Riccasdi Library at Florence

PART IV

CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTE

CHAPTER I

Boccaccio's account of Dante's person and character—His love of fame

—His failings—Account of him by his contemporary, Giovanni Villani.

IN his Life of Dante Boccaccio gives the following des-

cription of Dante's person and character, which was

derived no doubt in part from the recollections of those

who had been personally acquainted with the poet at

Ravenna. Boccaccio paid several visits to Ravenna, the

first of which took place in 1346, just five-and-twenty

years after Dante's death, when there can have been little

difficulty in collecting information from contemporaries

of Dante who had frequented his society, chief amongwhom was Piero di Giardino, who, as we have already

seen, conversed with Dante on his deathbed.^

" Our poet," says Boccaccio, " was of middle height, and

after he had reached mature years he walked with some-

what of a stoop ; his gait was grave and sedate ; and he

was ever clothed in most seemly garments, his dress

being suited to the ripeness of his years. His face was

long, his nose aquiline, his eyes rather large than small,

his jaws heavy, with the under lip projecting beyond the

upper. His complexion was dark, and his hair and beard

' See above, p. 103 note.

119

I20 CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTE

thick, black, and crisp ; and his countenance always sad

and thoughtful. Whence it happened one day in Verona

(the fame of his writings having by that time been spread

abroad everywhere, and especially of that part of his

Commedia to which he gave the title of Hell, and he him-

self being known by sight to many men and women), that

as he passed before a doorway where several women were

sitting, one of them said to the others in a low voice, but

not so low but that she was plainly heard by him and by

those with him, ' Do you see the man who goes down to

Hell, and returns at his pleasure, and brings back news

of those who are below ?' To which one of the others

answered in all simplicity :' Indeed, what you say must

be true ; don't you see how his beard is crisped and his

colour darkened by the heat and smoke down below?'

Dante, hearing these words behind him, and perceiving

that they were spoken by the \yomen in perfect good

faith, was not ill pleased that they should have such an

opinion of him, and smiling a little passed on his way.

"In his manners, whether in public or in private, he was

wonderfully composed and restrained, and in all his wayshe was more courteous and civil than any one else. In

food and drink he was very moderate, both in partaking

of them at the regular hours,^ and in never indulging to

excess; nor did he ever particularly care for one thing

more than for another. He commended delicate dishes,

but for the most part lived on plain fare ; condemning in

no measured terms those who study much to have choice

dainties, and to have them prepared with all possible care,

—declaring that such people do not eat in order to live,

but live in order to eat.

" No man was more wakeful than he, whether in his

studies or in anything which gave him anxious thought,

to such an extent that many a time his household and his

BOCCACCIO'S ACCOUNT OF DANTE 121

wife used to be vexed at it, until, growing accustomed to

his ways, they came to take no notice of it. He rarely

spoke, save when spoken to, and that with deliberation

and in tones suited to the subject of his discourse. Never-

theless, when occasion demanded, he was most eloquent

and fluent, with an excellent and ready delivery.

" In his youth he took the greatest pleasure in music

and singing, and was on friendly and familiar terms with

all the best singers and musicians of the time. And his

love for music led him to compose many things, which he

had set by them to pleasing and masterly accompaniments.

How ardently he was devoted to love has already been

shown ; and it is firmly believed by all that it was this love

which moved his genius to composition in the vulgar tongue,

at first in the way of imitation ; afterwards through his

desire to express his emotions in more permanent shape,

and for the sake of renown, he assiduously practised him-

self therein, and not only surpassed all his contemporaries,

but also so illustrated and beautified the language that he

made many then, and will make many others hereafter,

eager to become skilled in their own tongue.

" He delighted also in solitude, holding himself aloof

from other people, in order that his meditations might not

be interrupted; and if while he was in company any

thought occurred to him which pleased him well, however

much he might be questioned about any other matter, he

would make no reply to his questioner until he had either

made sure of his idea or had rejected it—a thing which

happened to him many a time when questions were put to

him at table, or by his companions on a journey, or else-

where." In his studies he was most diligent, and while he was

occupied with them no news that he might chance to hear

could take him away from them. And it is related by

122 CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTE

certain credible witnesses, with regard to his giving him-

self up wholly to what pleased him, that on one of the

occasions when he was in Siena, he chanced to be at an

apothecary's shop, where a book was brought to him which

had been previously promised him, this book being one

of much reputation among persons of worth, and having

never yet been seen by him. As he happened to be un-

able to take it elsewhere, he leant over on to the bench

in front of the apothecary's shop, and there, placing the

book before him, began most eagerly to examine it. Soon

afterwards, in that same quarter, close to where he was,

on the occasion of some general festival a great tourna-

ment took place among the noble youths of Siena, ac-

companied, as is usually the case on such occasions, with

a great deal of noise caused by the various instruments

and shouts of applause from the bystanders;yet, in spite

of all this, and of many other things likely to attract the

attention, such as fair ladies dancing, and youths' sports

of all kinds, he was never seen to stir from his place, nor

so much as to raise his eyes from his book. Indeed,

although it was about noon when he took his stand there,

it was not until past the hour of vespers when, having

examined the book thoroughly and taken a general

survey of its contents, he got up to leave it. He after-

wards declared to several persons, who asked him how he

could refrain from looking on at such a splendid festival

as had taken place in his presence, that he had been

wholly unaware of it—an answer which made his

questioners wonder even more than they had done at

first.

" Dante, moreover, was of marvellous capacity, with a

most retentive memory, and keen intellect, insomuch that

when he was in Paris, and in a disputation held in the

theological schools, fourteen questions had been pro-


pounded by divers scholars on divers subjects, he without

hesitation took them up and went over them in the order

in which they had been given, together with the argu-

ments for and against, adduced by the opponents ; and

then, preserving the same order, he subtly replied to and

refuted the arguments on the other side—which thing was

regarded as little short of a miracle by those who were

present.

" He was likewise of the most lofty genius and of subtle

invention, as is made manifest by his works, to such as

understand, far more clearly than my writing could ex-

press. He was very greedy of honour and glory, more

so perhaps than beseemed his fame and virtue. Yet,

what life is so humble as not to be touched by the sweet-

ness of glory? And it was by reason of this desire, I

think, that he loved poetry more than any other pursuit,

perceiving that although philosophy surpasses all things

else in nobility, yet her excellence can be communicated

only to the few, and those who win fame thereby in the

world are many ; whereas poetry is less abstruse and more

pleasing to every one, and poets are exceeding few.

Therefore, hoping by her means to attain to the unusual

and glorious honour of the laurel crown, he devoted him-

self wholly to the study and composition of poetry. Andof a surety his desire would have been fulfilled had For-

tune favoured him so far as to allow him ever to return to

Florence, where alone at the font of San Giovanni, he

was willing to receive the crown ; to the end that in the

same place where he had received his first name in

baptism, there too he might receive the second by being

crowned. But it so came about that although his suffici-

ency was great, and such that wherever he had chosen

he might have received the laurel, yet, in expectation of

that return which was destined never to take place, he


would not consent to accept it anywhere else than in

Florence; and so he died without the much coveted

honour. . , .

" Our poet, further, was of a very lofty and scornful

disposition, insomuch that when a certain friend of his, in

answer to his entreaties to that effect, sought to bring

about his return to Florence, which he most ardently

longed for above all things else, and could find no other

way with those who then had the government of the

Republic in their hands, save this one only : that he

should be kept in prison for a certain space, and afterwards

on some solemn public occasion should be presented, as

an act of mercy, in our principal church, being thereby

restored to liberty and released from every sentence

previously passed upon him—such a thing, in his opinion,

being fitting to be practised only in the case of abject and

infamous men and of no others, he, notwithstanding his

great longing, chose rather to remain in exile than by such

means to return to his home." Likewise Dante thought no little of himself, rating his

own worth no less highly, according to the reports of his

contemporaries, than was his actual due. Which thing

was apparent on one occasion among others to a remark-

able degree at the time when he and his party were at the

head of affairs in the Republic ; for, inasmuch as those

who were out of power had, through the mediation of

Pope Boniface VIII, invited a brother or relation of

Philip, the then King of France, whose name was Charles,

to come and set to rights the affairs of our city, all the

chiefs of the party with which Dante was allied, mettogether in council to make provision concerning this

matter ; and there among other things they resolved to

send an embassy to the Pope, who was then at Rome, in

order to induce the Pope to oppose the coming of the


said Charles, or to arrange for him to come in agreementwith the said party which was in power. And when it

came to be debated who should be at the head of the pro-

posed embassy, it was agreed by all that it should be

Dante. To which request Dante, after a brief hesitation,

said :' If I go, who remains ? If I remain, who goes ?

'*

As though he alone of them all was of any consequence,

or gave any consequence to the rest. This saying was

understood and taken note of.

" But, apart from all this, this worthy man in all his ad-

versities showed the greatest fortitude. Only in one thing

he was, I know not whether I should say impatient or pas-

sionate, namely, he was more given to faction after his

exile than wa.s becoming to a man of his parts, and morethan he would have had it believed of him by others.

And what I most blush for on account of his memory is

that in Romagna it is perfectly notorious to every one

that any feeble woman or little child who had spoken on

party matters, and found fault with the Ghibelline party

to which he belonged, would have stirred him to such a

pitch of madness that he would have thrown stones at

them if they had not held their peace ; and this passion he

retained to the day of his death. And assuredly I blush

to be obliged to blot the fame of so great a man with any

defect ; but the manner in which I ordered my matter at

the outset in some sort demands it, for if I were to be

' This anecdote was quoted in a letter written in 1624 by Lord Keeper

Williams to the Duke of Buckingham, in which he tried to persuade the

Duke to accept the office of Lord Steward. " I will trouble your grace,"

he writes, " with a tale of Dante, the first Italian Poet of Note : who,

being a great and wealthy Man in Florence, and his Opinion demanded

who should be sent Embassador to the Pope ? made this Answer, that he

knew not who ; Si jo vo, chi sta, si j'o sto, chi va ; If I go, I know not whoshall stay at Home ; If I stay, I know not who can perform this Employ-

ment " (see Paget Toynbee, Dante in English Literature, vol. i. p. 117).


silent regarding things not to his credit, I should shake

the faith of my readers in the things already related

which are to his credit. Therefore to him himself I make

my excuse, who maybe from some lofty region of heaven

looks down with scornful eye upon me as I write.

" Amid all the virtue and all the learning which has

been shown above to have been possessed by this won-

drous poet, the vice of lustfulness found no small place,

and that not only in the years of his youth, but also in

the years of his maturity ; ^ the which vice, though it be

natural and common, yet cannot be worthily excused.

Nevertheless bearing in mind what is written of David,

and Solomon, and of many others, our poet may be al-

lowed to pass by, not excused, but accused with less sever-

ity than if he had been alone in this failing."^

With this account of Dante by Boccaccio it is interest-

ing to compare the brief description of his personal char-

acteristics furnished by his contemporary and neighbour

in Florence, the chronicler Giovanni Villani, who, if his

nephew Filippo is to be believed, was also a personal friend

of Dante.^

" This Dante," he says, " was an honourable and ancient

citizen of Florence, belonging to the Porta San Piero, and

our neighbour. . . . This man was a great scholar in

almost every branch of learning, although he was a lay-

man : he was a great poet and philosopher, and a perfect

rhetorician both in prose and verse, and in public debate

he was a very noble speaker ; in rime he was supreme,

with the most polished and beautiful style that ever hadbeen in our language, up to his time and since. . . .

* There are several passages in the Divina Commedia which seem to

hint at Dante's consciousness of this failing (see above, p. 71)."^ Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, §§ 8, 12, pp. 43-7, 59-62.s See above, p. 37 note.

VILLANFS ACCOUNT OF DANTE 127

This Dante, on account of his great learning, was some-

what haughty and reserved and scornful, and after the

manner of a philosopher little gracious, not adapting him-

self to the conversation of the unlearned. But on account

of his other virtues and knowledge and worth, it seems

right to perpetuate the memory of so great a citizen in

this our chronicle, albeit that his noble works left to us in

writing are the true testimony to his fame and a lasting

honour to our city." ^

> Bk. ix. ch. 136.

CHAPTER II

Portraits of Dante—The Giotto portrait in the Bargello—Norton's ac-

count of the Bargello portrait—Its disappearance and rediscovery—Thedeath-mask—Its relation to the portrait—The Naples bronze—Portrait by

Taddeo Gaddi—The Riccardi portrait—The picture by Domenico di

Michel ino.

FROM the written descriptions ofDante the transition

is natural to the subject of the actual representa-

tion of the poet's face, depicted during his lifetime.

Of portraits from the life, so far as is known, there is

one only, that most beautiful of all the portraits of Dante,

painted by Giotto, the great Florentine artist, whose fame

is inseparably connected with that of the great Florentine

poet. An interesting account of this portrait, of its disap-

pearance and rediscovery, together with a comparison of

it with the mask supposed to have been modelled from

Dante's face after death, is given by Professor Charles Eliot

Norton, in his work On the Original Portraits of Dante,

which was published in 1865 in honour of the six-

hundredth anniversary of the poet's birth. After quoting

Boccaccio's description of Dante's physiognomy, which has

already been given above, Professor Norton writes :

—

" Such, was Dante as he appeared in his later years to

those from whose recollections of him Boccaccio drew

this description. But Boccaccio, had he chosen so to

do, might have drawn another portrait of Dante, not the

author of the Divine Comedy, but the author of the NewLife. The likeness of the youthful Dante was familiar

ia8

PORTRAIT OF DANTE BY GIOTTO IN THE BARGELLO AT FLORENCE

Front a drawing by Seymour ICirkup.

GIOTTO'S PORTRAIT OF DANTE 129

to those Florentines who had never looked on the presence

of their greatest citizen.

" On the altar-wall of the chapel of the Palace of the

Podesta (now the Bargello) Giotto painted a grand re-

ligious composition, in which, after the fashion of the times,

he exalted the glory of Florence by the introduction of

some of her most famous citizens into the assembly of the

blessed in Paradise. ' The head of Christ, full of dignity,

appears above, and lower down, the escutcheon of Florence,

supported by angels, with two rows of saints, male andfemale, attendant to the right and left, in front of whomstand a company of the magnates of the pity, headed bytwo crowned personages, close to one of whom, to the

right, stands Dante, a pomegranate in his hand, and wear-

ing the graceful falling cap of the day.' ^ The date whenthis picture was painted is uncertain, but Giotto repre-

sented his friend in it as a youth, such as he may have

been in the first flush of early fame,fat the season of the

beginning of their memorable friendship)

" Of all the portraits of the revival of Art, there is none

comparable in interest to this likeness of the supreme poet

by the supreme artist of mediaeval Europe. It was due

to no accident of fortune that these men were contempo-

raries and of the same country ; but it was a fortunate

and delightful incident, that they were so brought together

by sympathy of genius and by favouring circumstances

as to become friends, to love and honour each other in

life, and to celebrate each other through all time in their

respective works.^ The story of their friendship is knownonly in its outline, but that it began when they were young

^ Lord Lindsay's History of Christian Art, vol. ii. p. 174.

''Dante mentions Giotto in the Commedia : " Cimabue thougiit to hold

the field in painting, and now Giotto has the cry, so thst the fame of the

other is obscured " (Purg. xi. 94-6),

Q


is certain, and that it lasted till death divided them is a

tradition which finds ready acceptance." It was probably between 1290 and 1300, when Giotto

was just rising to unrivalled fame, that this painting was

executed. 1 There is no contemporary record of it, the

earliest known reference to it being that by Filippo

Villani,^ who died about 1404. Giannozzo Manetti, who

' Lord Lindsay says : " There can be little doubt, from the prominent

position assigned Dante in this composition, as well as from his personal

appearance, that this fresco was painted in, or immediately after, the year

1300, when he was one of the Priors of the Republic, and in the thirty-

fifth year of his age ". There is, however, a difficulty in accepting this

early date for Giotto's portrait of Dante, in that in 1332 the Palazzo del

Podesta was seriously damaged by fire, and had to be partially rebuilt, as

is recorded by Villani :" a di 28 di Febbraio s' apprese fuoco nel palagio del

comune ova abita la podesta, e arse tutto il tetto del vecchio palazzo e le

due parti del nuovo dalle prime volte in su. Per la qual cosa s' ordino per

lo comune che si rifacesse tutto in volte infino a' tetti." (bk. x. ch. 182). It

is urged, therefore, that even if the fire did not destroy the fresco, it would

almost certainly have left traces of damage. Consequently some recent

critics have argued that Giotto must have painted the fresco later than

1331, after the building had been repaired. In this case the portraits of

Dante and of those associated with him in the fresco must have been

painted from memory. But it is quite possible that the fresco may have

been painted in 1300 and that any damage caused by the fire of 1332 mayhave been repaired either by Giotto himself or by one of his pupils.

" In the notice of Giotto in his Liber de Civitatis Florentiae Famosis

Civibus : " Pinxit speculorum suffragio semetipsum, sibique contempor-

aneum Dantem, in tabula altaris Capellae Palatii Potestatis". A still

earlier reference, however, occurs (as is supposed) in the following poemof Antonio Pucci, the author of the Centiloquio, who died c. 1390 :

—

Questi che veste di color sanguigno,

Posto seguente alle merite sante,

Dipinse Giotto in figura di Dante,

Che di parole fe' si bell' ordigno.

E come par nell' abito benigno,

Cosi nel mondo fu con tutte quante

Quelle virtu ch' onoran chi davant?

Le porta con effetto nello scrigno,

Diritto paragon fu di sentenze

:


died in 1459, also mentions it ; ^ and Vasari, in his Life

of Giotto, publislied in 1550, says that Giotto 'became so

good an imitator of nature, that he altogether discarded

the stiff Greek manner, and revived the modern and good

art of painting, introducing exact drawing from nature of

living persons, which for more than two hundred years

had not been practised, or if indeed any one had tried it,

he had not succeeded very happily, nor anything like so

well as Giotto. And he portrayed among other persons,

as may even now be seen, in the chapel of the Palace of

the Podesta in Florence, Dante Alighieri, his contemporary

and greatest friend, who was not less famous a poet than

Giotto was painter in those days. ... In the same chapel

is the portrait by the same hand of Ser Brunetto Latini,

the master of Dante, and of Messer Corso Donati, a great

citizen of those times.'

" One might have supposed that such a picture as this

would have been among the most carefully protected andjealously prized treasures of Florence. But such was not

the case. The shameful neglect of many of the best and

most interesting works of the earlier period of Art, which

accompanied and was one of the symptoms of the moral

Col braccio manco awinchia la Scrittura,

Perche signoreggio molte scienze.

E '1 suo parlar fu con tanta misura,

Che 'ncorono la cittsl di Firenze

Di pregio, ond' ancor fama le dura.

Perfetto di fattezze e qui dipinto,

Com' a sua vita fu di came cinto.

(Rime di Treceniisti Minori, a. cura di G. Volpi, 1907, pp. 105-6.)

' In his Vita Dantis : " Ejus effigies in Basilica Sanctae Crucis, et in

Capella Praetoris Urbani utrobique in parietibus extat ea forma, qua

revera in vita fuit a Giotto quodam Optimo ejus temporis pictore egregie

depicta "- The portrait is mentioned also by Landino in the Vita di Dante

prefixed to his commentary on the Divina Commedia (1481) :" La sua

effigie resta ancora di mano di Giotto in Santa Ctoce, c nella capella del

Podesta".


and political decline of Italy during the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, extended to this as to other of the

noblest paintings of Giotto. Florence, in losing conscious-

ness of present worth, lost care for the memorials of her

past honour, dignity, and distinction. The Palace of the

Podesta, no longer needed for the dwelling of the chief

magistrate of a free city, was turned into a jail for commoncriminals, and what had once been its beautiful and sacred

chapel was occupied as a larder or storeroom.^ The walls,

adorned with paintings more precious than gold, were

covered with whitewash, and the fresco of Giotto was

swept over by the brush of the plasterer. It was not only

thus hidden from the sight of those unworthy indeed to

behold it, but it almost disappeared from memory also

;

and from the time of Vasari down to that of Moreni, a

Florentine antiquary, in the early part of the present cen-

tury,^ hardly a mention of it occurs. In a note found

among his papers, Moreni laments that he had spent twoyears of his life in unavailing efforts to recover the por-

trait of Dante, and the other portions of the fresco of

Giotto in the Bargello, mentioned by Vasari ; that others

before him had made a like effort, and had failed in like

manner ; and that he hoped that better times would come,

in which this painting, of such historic and artistic interest,

would again be sought for, and at length recovered.

Stimulated by these words, three gentlemen, one an

American, Mr. Richard Henry Wilde, one an Englishman,

Mr. Seymour Kirkup, and one an Italian, Signor G.

Aubrey Bezzi, all scholars devoted to the study of Dante,

1 F. J. Bunbury, writing in 1852, says :" The Bargello of Florence,

which at present contains the prisons, and some public offices of the

Government, was once the Palace of the Podesta, . . , but for centuries

the chamber [in which was the portrait of Dante] had been coated withwhite-wash, divided into two storeys, and partitioned for prisoners' cells."

The whole Bargello building is now used as a museum.' Norton was writing in 1865.


undertook new researches, in 1 840, and, after many hin-

drances on the part of the Government,^ which were at

length successfully overcome, the work of removing the

crust of plaster from the walls of the ancient chapel was

entrusted to the Florentine painter, Marini. This newand well-directed search did not fail. After some months'

labour the fresco was found,^ almost uninjured, under the

whitewash that had protected while concealing it, and at

length the likeness of Dante was uncovered.*"

' But,' says Mr. Kirkup, in a letter * published in the

Spectator (London), 11 May, 1850, 'the eye of the

beautiful profile was wanting. There was a hole an

inch deep, or an inch and a half Marini said it was a

nail. It did seem precisely the damage of a nail drawn

out. Afterwards . . . Marini filled the hole and made a

new eye, too little and ill designed, and then he retouched

the whole face and clothes, to the great damage of the

expression and character.* The likeness of the face,^ and

the three colours in which Dante was dressed, the samewith those of Beatrice, those of young Italy, white, green,

and red, stand no more ; the green is turned to chocolate

colour ; moreover, the form of the cap is lost and con-

founded.

1 Of the Grand Duke. "21 July, 1840.

*"The enthusiasm of the Florentines," says Lord Lindsay, "on the

announcement of the discovery, resembled that of their ancestors whenBorgo AUegri received its name from their rejoicings in sympathy with

Cimabue. ' L' abbiamo il nostro poeta I ' was the universal cry, and for

days afterwards the Bargello was thronged with a continuous succession

of pilgrim visitors."

* This letter was written originally by Kirkup in Italian—it was a (not

very accurate) translation which was published in the Spectator. G. B.

Cavalcaselle printed a corrected translation in the same paper, on 13 July.

^ In Cavalcaselle's version : " to the great damage of the expression as

well as the character and costume".' Cavalcaselle :

" The likeness of the face w changed ; and the three

colours . . . are no longer there'

'.


"' I desired to make a drawing. ... It was denied to

me. , . . But I obtained the means to be shut up in the

prison for a morning ; and not only did I make a drawing,^

but a tracing also, and with the two I then made a fac-

simile sufficiently careful. Luckily it was before the

rifacimento'

"This facsimile afterwards passed into the hands of

Lord Vernon, well known for his interest in all Dantesque

studies, and by his permission it has been admirably re-

produced in chromo-lithography under the auspices of the

Arundel Society.^ The reproduction is entirely satisfactory

' The original drawing, made on the inside of the vellum cover of a copy of

the 1531 edition of the Convivio, was acquired by Colonel W. J. Gillum, at

the sale of Kirkup's library at Sotheby's in December, 1871, and was recently

(April, igo8) presented by him to the Museo Nazionale (in the Bargello)

at Florence. Kirkup gave the following interesting account to a friend

(Mrs. Gillum, by whom it was kindly communicated to the writer), in

Florence in 1873 of how he managed to get the drawing made. " I went

to the Bargello Chapel, along with others of the public, and I had that

book (the Convivio) and some colours in my pocket. For a while I man-

aged to draw, holding the book within my wide 'felt hat, but by and by

the man in charge of the rooni came up to me and said :' You know.

Signer Barone, the Grand Duke does not allow any copying '. I answered

:

' I am making some notes,' and went on with the work. After a time the

man came again, and said :' It is late. Signer Barone, time for me to

lock up and go to my dinner. Every one but yourself is gone.'— ' Youcan go. You may lock me in to finish my notes.' As soon as I was alone,

I wheeled up the stage which had been left by the workmen who removed

the plaster, mounted it, and took a tracing on thin paper, so as to obtain

the exact outline and precise size. I then replaced the stage, and took

up my drawing again quite comfortably. So my ' notes ' were finished

before my gaoler returned from dinner." [Kirkup's description of himself

as "Barone" in 1840 is an anachronism. He assumed the title (through

a misunderstanding) after being created by King Victor Emmanuel, on the

restoration of the Italian kingdom, a "Cavaliere di SS. Maurizio e

Lazzaro".]2 The tracing which Kirkup made at the same time as the drawing was

given by him to his friend Gabriele Rossetti, who handed it on to his son,

Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It was sold after the death of the latter in 1882.

DEATH-MASK OF DANTE 135

as a presentation of the authentic portrait of the youthful

Dante, in the state in which it was when Mr. Kirkup was

so fortunate as to gain admission to it.'

" This portrait by Giotto is the only likeness of Danteknown to have been made of the poet during his life, and

is of inestimable value on this account. But there exists

also a mask, concerning which there is a tradition that it

was taken from the face of the dead poet, and which, if its

genuineness could be established, would not be of inferior

interest to the early portrait. But there is no trustworthy

historic testimony concerning it, and its authority as a

likeness depends upon the evidence of truth which its owncharacter affords. On the very threshold of the inquiry

concerning it, we are met with the doubt whether the art

of taking casts was practised at the time of Dante's death.

In his Life of Andrea del Verrocchio, Vasari says that this

art began to come into use in his time, that is, about the

middle of the fifteenth century ; and Bottari refers to the

likeness of Brunelleschi, who died in 1446, which was

taken in this manner, and was preserved in the Office of

the Works of the Cathedral at Florence. It is not impos-

sible that so simple an art may have been sometimes

practised at an earlier period ; ^ and if so, there is no in-

herent improbability in the supposition that Guido Novello,

1 Interesting details of the discovery of the fresco and of the making of

the drawing of the portrait of Dante are given in three letters from Kirkup

to Gabriele Rossetti, which are printed in Gabriele Rossetti ; A Versified

Autobiography, edited by W. M. Rossetti, igoi. (See Appendix C.)

' As a matter of fact the art of taking casts firom the human face was

known to the ancients. It was at least 300 years old in the days of Pliny,

by whom reference is made to it in his Historia Naturalis : " Hominis

imaginem gypso e facie ipsa primus omnium expressit, ceraque in earn for-

mam gypsi infusa emendare instituit Lysistratus Sicyonius " ; i.e. Lysis-

tratus of Sicyon {c. 320 B.C.) was the first who took a cast of the human

face in plaster, and produced copies from this mould by pouring into it

melted wax (xxxv. § 44).


the friend and protector of Dante at Ravenna, may, at the

time of the poet's death, have had a mask taken to serve

as a model for the head of a statue intended to form part

of the monument which he proposed to erect in honour of

Dante. And it may further be supposed that, this design

failing, owing to the fall of Guido from power before its

accomplishment, the mask may have been preserved at

Ravenna, till we first catch a trace of it nearly three cen-

turies later.

" There is in the Magliabecchiana Library at Florence

an autograph manuscript by Giovanni Cinelli, a Floren-

tine antiquary who died in 1706, entitled La Toscana

letterata, ovvero Istoria degli Scrittori Fiorentini, which

contains a life of Dante. In the course of the biography ^

Cinelli states that the Archbishop of Ravenna caused the

head of the poet which had adorned his sepulchre to be

taken therefrom, and that it came into the possession of

the famous sculptor, Gian Bologna, who left it at his death,

in 1608, to his pupil Pietro Tacca. ' One day Tacca

showed it, with other curiosities, to the Duchess Sforza,

who, having wrapped it in a scarf of green cloth, carried

it away, and God knows into whose hands the precious

object has fallen, or where it is to be found. . . . On ac-

count of its singular beauty, it had often been drawn bythe scholars of Tacca.' It has been supposed that this

head was the original mask from which the casts nowexisting are derived. Mr. Seymour Kirkup, in a note on

this passage from Cinelli, says that ' there are three masks

of Dante at Florence, all of which have been judged bythe first Roman and Florentine sculptors to have been

taken from life [that is, from the face after death]—the

^ An extract from this biography, along with some interesting remarks

by Kirkup, is given in a letter from the latter to Charles Lyell from Flor-

ence, 27 February, 1842 (printed in The Poems of the Vita Nuova andCoHvito of Dante, translated by Charles Lyell, 1842, pp. xvii-xix).

MASK OF DANTE IN THE UFFIZI AT FLOKENCE

Formerly in po^seisio'i of the Marchese Torrigiani


slight differences noticeable between them being such as

might occur in casts made from the original mask '. Oneof these casts was given to Mr. Kirkup by the sculptor

Bartolini, another belonged to the late sculptor, Professor

Ricci,^ and the third is in the possession of the Marchese

Torrigiani.^

" In the absence of historical evidence in regard to this

mask, some support is given to the belief in its genuine-

ness by the fact that it appears to be the type of the

greater number of the portraits of Dante executed from

the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, and was adopted

by Raffaelle as the original from which he drew the like-

ness which has done most to make the features of the

poet familiar to the world.

" The character of the mask itself affords, however, the

only really satisfactory ground for confidence in the truth

of the tradition concerning it. It was plainly taken as a

cast from a face after death.^ It has none of the charac-

teristics which a fictitious and imaginative representation

of the sort would be likely to present. It bears no trace

of being a work of skilful and deceptive art.* The dif-

ference between the sides of the face, the slight deflection

in the line of the nose,* the droop of the corners of the

^The mask possessed by Ricci, who made use of it for the purposes of

his statue of Dante in Santa Croce in Florence, eventually also passed

into the hands of Kirkup, by whom it was presented to the Oxford DanteSociety.

2 This last is now in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. (See plate opposite.)

^ This was the opinion also of the eminent surgeon, the late Sir

James Paget.

* Corrado Ricci, on the other iiand, who persistently denies the

genuineness of the death-mask, does not hesitate to declare that the trace

of the sculptor's tool is everywhere evident I (see L' Ultimo Rifugio di

Dante, p. 279).

^ Sir James Paget pointed out that this depression of the tip of the

nose, which one is accustomed to regard as characteristic of Dante's face,

was just such as would have been produced by the weight of the plaster

in taking the cast.


mouth, and other delicate, but none the less convincing

indications, combine to show that it was in all probability-

taken from nature. The countenance, moreover, and ex-

pression, are worthy of Dante ; no ideal forms could so

answer to the face of him who had led a life apart from

the world in ,which he dwelt, and had been conducted by

love and faith along hard, painful, and solitary ways, to

behold

' L' alto trionfo del regno verace '.'

"The mask conforms entirely to the description by

Boccaccio of the poet's countenance, save that it is beard-

less, and this difference is to be accounted for by the fact

that to obtain the cast the beard must have been removed.^

"The face is one of the most pathetic upon which

human eyes ever looked, for it exhibits in its expression

the conflict between the strong nature ofthe man and the

hard dealings of fortune,—between the idea of his life and

its practical experience. Strength is the most striking

attribute of the countenance, displayed alike in the broad

forehead, the masculine nose, the firm lips, the heavy jaw

and wide chin ; and this strength, resulting from the main

forms of the features, is enforced by the strength of the

lines of expression. The look is grave and stem almost

to grimness ; there is a scornful lift to the eyebrow, and a

contraction of the forehead as from painful thought ; but

obscured under this look, yet not lost, are the marks of

tenderness, refinement, and self-mastery, which, in com-

bination with more obvious characteristics, give to the

countenance of the dead poet an ineffable dignity and

melancholy. There is neither weakness nor failure here.

It is the image of the strong fortress of a strong soul ' but-

tressed on conscience and impregnable will,' battered by

1 " The high triumph of the true kingdom " {Par. xxx. g8).

' That Dante had a beard we know from himself (Purg. xxxi. 68).


the blows of enemies without and within, bearing upon its

walls the dints of many a siege, but standing firm and un-

shaken against all attacks until the warfare was at an end.

" The intrinsic evidence for the truth of this likeness,

from its correspondence, not only with the description of

the poet, but with the imagination that we form of him

from his life and works, is strongly confirmed by a com-

parison of the mask with the portrait by Giotto. So far

as I am aware, this comparison has not hitherto been madein a manner to exhibit effectively the resemblance between

the two. A direct comparison between the painting and

the mask, owing to the difficulty of reducing the forms of

the latter to a plain surface of light and shade, is unsatis-

factory. But by taking a photograph from the mask,' in

the same position as that in which the face is painted byGiotto, and placing it alongside of the facsimile from the

painting,^ a very remarkable similarity becomes at once

apparent. In the two accompanying photographs the

striking resemblance between them is not to be mistaken.

The differences are only such as must exist between the

portrait of a man in the freshness of a happy youth, and

the portrait of him in his age, after much experience and

many trials. Dante was fifty-six years old at the time of

his death, when the mask was taken; the portrait byGiotto represents him as not much past twenty. There

is an interval of at least thirty years between the two.

And what years they had been for him !

" The interest of this comparison lies not only in the

mutual support which the portraits afford each other, in

the assurance each gives that the other is genuine, but

also in their joint illustration of the life and character

' A representation of the mask, in two positions, is given on plate op-

posite p. 88.

^ See plate, opposite p. 128.


of Dante. As Giotto painted him, he is the lover of

Beatrice, the gay companion of princes,^ the friend of

poets, and himself already the most famous writer of love

verses in Italy. There is an almost feminine softness in

the lines of the face, with a sweet and serious tenderness

well befitting the lover, and the author of the sonnets and

canzoni which were in a few years to be gathered into the

incomparable record of his New Life. It is the face of

Dante in the May-time of youthful hope, in that serene

season of promise and of joy, which was so soon to reach

its foreordained close in the death of her who had made

life new and beautiful for him, and to the love and honour

of whom he dedicated his soul and gave all his future

years. It is the same face with that of the mask ; but the

one is the face of a youth, ' with all triumphant splendour

on his brow,' the other of a man, burdened with ' the dust

and injury of age'. The forms and features are alike,

but as to the later face,

' That time of year thou mayst in it behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold.

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.'

The face of the youth is grave, as with the shadow of dis-

tant sorrow ; the face of the man is solemn, as of one whohad gone

' Per tutti i cerchi del dolente regno \^

The one is the young poet of Florence, the other the

supreme poet of the world

—

' Che al divino dall' umano.Air eterno dal tempo era venuto '." ^

* Compare the reference to Charles Martel of Hungary, Paradiso, viii.

55-7-

2 " Through all the circles of the woeful kingdom " {Purg. vii. 22).

' " Who was come from the human to the divine, from time to eternity "

(Par. xxxi. 37-8).

PORTRAIT BY TADDEO GADDI 141

From the death-mask described above appears to havebeen modelled the famous bronze bust of Dante, now in

the National Museum at Naples.^

Another contemporary artist, besides Giotto, is knownto have painted Dante's portrait, but this unfortunately

has perished. In his Life ofDante, Leonardo Bruni says

:

" His exact likeness, most excellently drawn from the life,

by an accomplished painter of those times, is to be seen

in the Church of Santa Croce, about half way up the church

on the left side as you go towards the high altar ". ^ Thepainter of this portrait was Taddeo Gaddi,^ as we learn

from Vasari, who in his Life of Taddeo Gaddi, speaking

of Santa Croce, says :" Below the partition which divides

the church, on the left, above the crucifix of Donatello,

Taddeo painted in fresco a miracle of St. Francis, how,

appearing in the air, he restored to life a child who had been

killed by falling from a loggia. In this fresco Taddeointroduced the portraits of his master Giotto, of the poet

Dante, and of Guido Cavalcanti, or, as some assert, of

himself." * This fresco was destroyed by Vasari himself

when, in 1 566, by order of Cosimo I, he removed the

partition on which it was painted.^

' See plate opposite.

* " L' effige sua propria si vede nella chiesa di Santa Croce, quasi al

mezzo chiesa dalla mano sinistra andando verso 1' altare maggiore, e ritratta

al naturale ottimamente per dipintore perfetto di quel tempo" (Vita di

Dante, ed. Brunone Bianchi, 1883, p. xxii). This portrait cannot have been

painted " from the life " in Florence, since Dante left Florence never to

return within a year or two of Taddeo Gaddi's birth, who was little morethan twenty when Dante died.

^ c. 1300-1366.

^ " Sotto il tramezzo che divide la chiesa, a man sinistra sopra il Crocifisso

di Donato, dipinse a fresco una storia di San Francesco, d' un miracolo

che fece nel risuscitar un putto che era morto cadendo da un verone coll'

apparire in aria. Ed in questa storia ritrasse Giotto suo maestro, Dante

poeta e Guido Cavalcanti ; altri dicono sS stesso " (Opere di Vasari, ed.

Milanesi, 1878, vol. i. pp. 573-4).

^ See Opere di Vasari, ed. cit., vol. i. p. 374 «., vol. vii. p. 711 ».


So-called portraits of Dante in various frescoes and il-

luminated manuscripts are numerous. The best known

of the latter is the one prefixed to Codex 1040 in the

Riccardi Library in Florence, which was pronounced by

the commission appointed to examine into the question

in 1864 to be the most authentic portrait of Dante in

existence.^ This opinion, however, which was disputed

at the time, has not by any means met with general ac-

ceptance.^

' See plate, opposite p. 119.

2 In 1864, in view of the approaching celebration in Florence of the

sixth centenary of Dante's birth, the Minister of Public Instruction com-

missioned Gaetano Milanesi and Luigi Passerini to report upon the

most authentic portrait of the poet, as it was proposed to have a medallion

executed in commemoration of the centenary. Milanesi and Passerini

communicated the results of their invistigations to the Minister in a letter

which was published in the Giornale del Centenario for 20 July, 1864.

After stating their doubts -with regard to the Bargello portrait, and dispos-

ing of the claims of two other portraits contained in MSS. preserved in

Florence, they go on to say :" Very precious on the other hand is the

portrait prefixed to Codex 1040 in the Riccardi Library, which contains

the minor poems of Dante, together with those of Messer Bindi Bonichi,

and which appears from the arms and initials to have belonged to Paolo

di Jacopo Giannotti, who was born in 1430. This portrait, which is about

half the size of life, is in water-colour, and represents the poet with his

characteristic features at the age of rather more than forty. It is free from

the exaggeration of later artists, who, by giving undue prominence to the

nose and under-lip and chin, make Dante's profile resemble that of a

hideous old woman. In our opinion this portrait is to be preferred to any

other, especially for the purposes of a medallion."

Cavalcaselle, among other authorities, declined to accept these con-

clusions.* Checcacci, on the contrary, who carefully compared the Ric-

cardi portrait with a very exact copy of that in the Bargello, asserted that

if the difference of age be taken into consideration, the two resemble each

other " like two drops of water " :—" The Bargello portrait lacks the

wrinkles of the other, while the colouring is more fresh, and the promin-

ence of the lower lip is less marked, but the nose, which does not

change with advancing years, is identical, as are the shape and colour of

the eyes, and the shape of the skull, which may be distinguished in both

portraits ". He added further that the sculptor Dupr^ was greatly struck

* See Giornale del Centenario for 20 August, 1864,

PICTURE BY DOMENICO DI MICHELINO 143

A very interesting representation of Dante, with his

book (the Divina Commedia) in his hand, and in the back-

ground a view of Florence on one side, and of the three

kingdoms of the other world on the other, is placed over -

the north door in the Cathedral of Florence. This picture

was painted in 1466, about 150 years after Dante's death,

by Domenico di Michelino, a pupil of Fra Angelico ; and

though it cannot in any sense claim to be a portrait of

Dante it has great value as a characteristic representation

of the poet, in the Florentine costume of the day, and

crowned with the poet's crown of laurel.^

with the Riccardi portrait, which he considered might be the work of

Giotto himself, and that he availed himself of it for the medallion which

he was commissioned to execute in commemoration of the centenary.

(See Giornale del Centenario for lo Sept., 1864.)

' See plate, opposite p. 193. This picture was for a long time attributed

to Orcagna, until the discovery of documentary evidence in Florence es-

tablished the fact that it was the work of Domenico di Michelino (1417-

1491) (see Ofere di Vasari, ed. Milanesi, 1878, vol. i. p. 607 n,, vol. ii.

p. 85 «.). The picture attracted the attention of most English travellers

in Florence. The first notice of it by an Englishman occurs in the Epi-

taphia et Inscriptiones Lugubres (published in 1554), of William Barker, the

translator of Gelli's Capricci del Bottaio, who transcribed the Latin inscrip-

tion (' Qui caelum cecinit, mediumque imumque tribunal,' etc.), on the

ftame, which was Englished 200 years later (in 1730) by Edward Wright,

another English traveller, as follows :

—

" Behold the poet, who in lofty verse

Heav'n, hell, and purgatory did rehearse;

The learned Dante ! whose capacious soul

Survey'd the universe, and knew the whole.

To his own Florence he a father prov'd,

Honour'd for counsel, for religion lov'd.

Death will not hurt so great a bard as he.

Who lives in virtue, verse, and effigy."

(See Dante in English Literature, vol. i. pp. 41, 216, and index). An-

other picture of Dante worthy of mention here is the painting by Andreadel Castagno {c. 1390-1457) of the poet in a red robe, and red hood bor-

dered with fur, with his book in his right hand, which (now in the Museo rL

^feizioiM^ at Florence) originally formed one of a series of portraits

(including Farinata degli Uberti, Petrarch, and Boccaccio) executed for

the Villa di Legnaia dei Pandolfini (see Opere di Vasari, ed. cit., vol. ii,

P-

CHAPTER III

Anecdotes of Dante—Dante and Can Grande della Scala—Belacqua

and Dante—Sacchetti's stories—Dante and the blacksmith—Dante and

the donkey-driver—Dante's creed—Dante and King Robert of Naples

—

Dante's reply to the bore—Dante and the Doge of Venice—Dante a klep-

tomaniac—Dante and Cecco d' Ascoli.

MANY anecdotes and traditions concerning Dante

have been preserved by various Italian writers, the

majority of which are undoubtedly apocryphal. Some of

them, however, are worth recording, as representing the

popular conception of what Dante was like in ordinary

life.

One of the earliest is that told by Petrarch^ of Dante

at the court of Can Grande della Scala at Verona, after

he had been exiled from Florence :

—

" Dante Alighieri, erewhile my fellow-citizen, was a mangreatly accomplished in the vulgar tongue ; but on account

of his pride he was somewhat more free in his manners

and speech than was acceptable to the sensitive eyes and

ears of the noble princes of our country. Thus, when he

was exiled from his native city, and was a guest at the

court of Can Grande, at that time the refuge and resort of

all who were in misfortune, he was at first held in high

honour; but afterwards by degrees he began to lose

favour, and day by day became less pleasing to his host.

Among the guests at the same time were, according to

the custom of those days, mimics and buffoons of every

^ In bk. ii. of the Res Memorandae.

144

DANTE AND CAN GRANDE 145

description, one of whom, an impudent rascal, by meansof his coarse remarks and broad jests made himself a uni-

versal favourite and a person of considerable influence.

Can Grande, suspecting that this was a cause of vexation

to Dante, sent for the buff'oon, and, after lavishing praise

upon him, turned to Dante and said :' I wonder how it

is that this man, fool though he be, understands how to

please us all, and is petted by every one ; while you, for

all your reputed wisdom, can do nothing of the kind!

'

Dante replied :' You would hardly wonder at that, if you

remembered that like manners and like minds are the real

causes of friendship '." ^

A similar anecdote is told by Michele Savonarola, the

grandfather ofthe famous Florentine preacher and reformer,

Girolamo Savonarola :" I will tell you the answer made

by Dante to a buffoon at the court of the Lord della Scala

of Verona, who, having received from his master a fine

coat as a reward for some piece of buffoonery, showed it to

Dante, and said :' You with all your letters, and sonnets,

and books, have never received a present like this'. Towhich Dante answered :

' What you say is true ; and this

has fallen to you and not to me, because you have found

your likes, and I have not yet found mine. There, you

understand that! '" ^

John Gower introduces a story of Dante and a flatterer

into the Confessio Amantis (c. 1390) :

—

" How Dante the poete answerde

To a flatour, the tale I herde.

Upon a strif bitwen hem tuo

He seide him, ' Ther ben many moOf thy servantes than of myne.

^ Or, as we should say, " birds of a feather flock together ".

2 Quoted by Papanti in Dante secondo la tradicione e i novellatoH,

p. 94.

10


For the poete of his covyne

Hath non that wol him clothe and fede,

But a fiatour may reule and lede

A king with al his lond aboute ' ".

(Bk. vii. 11. 2329*-37*.) ^

Another story of Dante and Can Grande turns on his

host's name, Cane (" dog ") :—" Once when Dante was at

his table Cane della Scala, who was a very gracious lord,

wishing to have a joke with the poet and to incite him to

some smart saying, ordered his servants to collect all the

bones from the repast and to put them privily at Dante's

feet. When the tables were removed, and the company

saw the pile of bones at Dante's feet, they all began to

laugh, and asked him if he were a bone-merchant. Where-

upon Dante quickly replied : 'It is no wonder if the dogs

have eaten all their bones ; but I am not a dog, and so

I could not eat mine '. And he said this because his host

was called Cane ('dog')."

^

The author of an old commentary on the Divina Corn-

media, written probably not many years after Dante's

death, relates Dante's retort to the musical-instrument

maker of Florence, whom the poet has placed among the

negligent in his Ante-Purgatory : * " Belacqua was a

citizen of Florence, who made the necks of lutes and

guitars, and he was the laziest man that ever was known.

It was said that he used to come in the morning to his

shop and sit himself down, and never stir again except to

go to dinner or to his siesta. Now Dante was a familiar

acquaintance of his, and often rebuked him for his lazi-

ness ; whereupon one day when he was scolding him,

Belacqua answered him with the words of Aristotle :' By

1 In the margin Gower has put " Nota exemplum cujusdam poete de

Ytalia, qui Dantes vocabatur ". The above passage was omitted by Gowerfrom the latest recension of his poem.

2 Quoted by Papanti, op. cit,, pp. go-i.

8 Purgatorio, iv. 106-27.

ANECDOTES OF DANTE BY SACCHETTI 14;

repose and quiet the mind attains to wisdom '. To which

Dante retorted :' Certainly if repose will make a man wise,

you ought to be the wisest man on earth '." ^

Benvenuto da Imola, another commentator on the Corn-

media, says that besides being a maker of musical instru-

ments, this Belacqua was also something of a musician,

and he explains that it was on this account that Dante,

who was a lover of music, became intimate with him.

The following two stories of Dante in Florence are told

by Franco Sacchetti, the Florentine writer of tales, whowas born within twenty years of Dante's death, and be-

longed to a family which had a long-standing blood-feud

with Dante's family, Geri del Bello, the first cousin of the

poet's father, having been killed by one of the Sacchetti.^

The first story contains also a characteristic anecdote of

Dante's uncompromising ways, which according to Sac-

chetti largely contributed to bring about his exile.

" That most excellent poet in the vulgar tongue, whos'e

fame will never die, Dante Alighieri of Florence, lived in

Florence not far from the Adimari family, one of whom,a young man, got into trouble through some misdoing or

other, and was like to be sentenced to punishment by one

of the magistrates. As the magistrate was a friend of

Dante's, the young man begged the latter to intercede in

his favour, which Dante readily consented to do. After

dinner, Dante went out from his house, and started on his

way to fulfil his promise. As he passed by the Porta SanPiero, a blacksmith was hammering iron on his anvil, and

at the same time bawling out some of Dante's verses, leav-

ing out lines here and there, and putting in others of his

own, which seemed to Dante a most monstrous outrage.

Without saying a word he went up to the blacksmith's

forge, where were kept all the tools he used to ply his

1 Anonimo Fiorentino, * See above, p. 42.


trade, and seizing the hammer flung it into the street ; then

he took the tongs and flung them after the hammer, and

the scales after the tongs ; and he did the same with a

number of the other tools. The blacksmith, turning round

to him with a coarse gesture, said :' What the devil are

you doing ? are you mad ?' Dante replied :

' What are

you doing?

' 'I am about my business,' said the smith,

' and you are spoiling my tools by throwing them into the

street.' Dante retorted :' If you do not want me to spoil

your things, do not you spoil mine '. The smith replied

:

' And what of yours am I spoiling ?' Dante said :

' Yousing out of my book, and do not give the words as I

wrote them. That is my business, and you are spoiling

it for me.' The blacksmith, bursting with rage, but not

knowing what to answer, picked up his things and went

back to his work. And the next time he wanted to sing,

he sang of Tristram and Lancelot, and let Dante's book

alone.

" Dante meanwhile pursued his way to the magistrate

;

and when he was come to his house, and bethought him-

self that this Adimari was a haughty young man, and

behaved with scant courtesy when he went about in the

city, especially when he was on horseback (for he used to

ride with his legs so wide apart that if the street happened

to be narrow he took up the whole of it, forcing every

passer-by to brush against the points of his boots—

a

manner of behaviour which greatly displeased Dante, whowas very observant), Dante said to the magistrate :

' Youhave before your court such a young man for such an of-

fence ; I recommend him to your favour, though his be-

haviour is such that he deserves to be the more severely

punished, for to my mind usurping the property of the

commonwealth is a very serious crime '. Dante did not

speak to deaf ears. The magistrate asked what property

ANECDOTES OF DANTE BY SACCHETTI 149

of the commonwealth the young man had usurped.

Dante answered :' When he rides through the city he

sits on his horse with his legs so wide apart that whoever

meets him is obliged to turn back, and is prevented from

going on his way '. The magistrate said :' Do you regard

this as a joke ? it is a more serious offence than the other!

'

Dante replied :' Well, you see, I am his neighbour, and

recommend him to you'. And he returned to his house,

where the young man asked him how the matter stood.

Dante said :' He gave me a favourable answer '. A few

days afterwards the young man was summoned before

the court to answer the charge against him. After the

first charge had been read, the judge had the second read

also, as to his riding with his legs wide-spread. Theyoung man, perceiving that his penalty would be doubled,

said to himself :' I have made a fine bargain ! instead of

being let off through the intervention of Dante, I shall

now be sentenced on two counts '. So returning home he

went to Dante and said :' Upon my word, you have

served me well ! Before you went to the magistrate he

had a mind to sentence me on one count ; since you

went he is like to sentence me on two,'—and in a great

fury he turned to Dante and said :' If I am sentenced I

shall be able to pay, and sooner or later I will pay out

the person who got me sentenced '. Dante replied :' I

did my best for you, and could not have done more if you

had been my own son. It is not my fault if the magis-

trate does not do as you wish.' The young man, shaking

his head, returned home ; and a few days afterwards was

fined a thousand lire for the first offence, and another

thousand for riding with his legs wide-spread—a thing he

never ceased to resent, both he and all the rest of the

Adimari. And this was the principal reason why not

long after Dante was expelled from Florence as a member

ISO CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTE

of the White party, and eventually died in exile at Ra-

venna, to the lasting shame of his native city."^

This story, Sacchetti informs his readers, reminded him

of another one about Dante, which he thought too good to

be omitted from his collection. It runs as follows :

—

" On another occasion as Dante was walking through the

streets of Florence on no particular errand, and, according

to the custom of the day, was wearing a gorget and arm-

piece, he met a donkey-driver whose donkeys were loaded

with refuse. As he walked behind the donkeys the

driver sang some of Dante's verses, and after every two or

three lines he would beat one of the donkeys, and cry

out: Arril'^ Dante going up to him gave him a great

thump on the back with his arm-piece, and said :' That

A rri ! was not put in by me '. The driver not knowing whoDante was, nor why he had struck him, only beat his

donkeys the more, and again cried out : Arri ! But whenhe had got a little way off, he ttirned round and put out

his tongue at Dante, and made an indecent gesture, say-

ing :' Take that

!

' Dante, seeing this, said to him :' I

would not give one word of mine for a hundred of yours '.

Oh ! gentle words, worthy of a philosopher ! Most

people would have run after the donkey-driver with

threats and abuse ; or would have thrown stones at him.

But the wise poet confounded the donkey-driver, and at

the same time won the commendation of every one whohad witnessed what took place."

'

The following story professes to account for the poetical

version of the Creed in terza rima, which is often included

among Dante's works, together with a similar version of

the seven penitential Psalms.*

" At the time when Dante was writing his book (the

^ Novella, cxiv. ^ Equivalent to our " Gee up I

"

^Novella cxv. ^See pp. 193-202 of the Oxford Dante.

DANTE AND THE INQUISITOR 151

Divina Commedia) many people who could not understand

it said that it was contrary to the Christian faith. And it

came about that Dante was exiled from Florence, andforbidden to come within a certain distance of the city,

which prohibition being disregarded, he was proclaimed

by the Florentines as a rebel. After wandering about

for some time in many countries he at last came to Ra-

venna, an ancient city of Romagna, and settled down at

the court of Guido Novello, who was at that time lord of

Ravenna ; and here he died, in the year 1321, on the four-

teenth day of September, that is on the day of the Exal-

tation of the Holy Cross, and Wcis buried with great

honour by the lord of the city. Now at Ravenna there

was a learned Franciscan friar, who was an inquisitor.

This man, having heard of Dante's fame, became desirous

of making his acquaintance, with the intention of finding

out whether he were a heretic or no. And one morning,

as Dante was in church, the inquisitor entered, and Dante

being pointed out to him, he sent for him. Dante rever-

entially went to him, and was asked by the inquisitor if

he were the Dante who claimed to have visited Hell,

Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante replied :' I am Dante

AHghieri of Florence '. Whereupon the inquisitor angrily

said :' You go writing canzoni, and sonnets, and idle tales,

when you would have done much better to write a learned

work, resting on the foundations of the Church of God,

instead of giving your time to such like rubbish, which

may one of these days serve you out as you deserve'.

When Dante wished to reply to the inquisitor, the latter

said :' This is not the time ; but on such a day I will see

you again, and I will inquire into this matter'. Dantethereupon answered that he should be well pleased for

this to be done ; and taking leave of the inquisitor, he

went home to his own room, and there and then wrote


out the composition known as the 'Little Creed,' the

which creed is an affirmation of the whole Christian faith.

On the appointed day he went in quest of the inquisitor,

and, having found him, put into his hands this composition,

which the inquisitor read ; and having read it he thought

it a remarkable work, insomuch that he was at a loss to

know what to say to Dante. And while the inquisitor

was thus confounded, Dante took his leave, and so came

off safe and sound. And from that day forward Dante

and the inquisitor became great friends. And that is howit came about that Dante wrote his Creed." ^

Giovanni Sercambi, the Lucchese novelist, tells several

stories of Dante, in one of which he relates how Dante

turned the tables on King Robert of Naples, the Guelf

champion, who was the bitter opponent of Dante's ideal

Emperor, Henry of Luxemburg." In the days when King Robert of Naples was still

alive, Dante, the poet of Florence, having been forbidden

to live in his native city or anywhere within the States of

the Church, took refuge sometimes with the Delia Scala

family at Verona, and sometimes with the lord of Mantua,

but oftenest with the Duke of Lucca, namely, Messer

Castruccio Castracani. And inasmuch as the fame of the

said Dante's wisdom had been noised abroad. KingRobert was desirous of having him at his court, in order

that he might judge of his wisdom and virtue ; wherefore

he sent letters to the Duke, and likewise to Dante, begging

him to consent to come. And Dante having decided to

go to King Robert's court, set out from Lucca and madehis way to Naples, where he arrived, dressed, as poets

mostly are, in somewhat shabby garments. When his

arrival was announced to King Robert, he was sent for to

the King ; and it was just the hour of dinner as Dante

' Quoted by Papanti, op. cit. pp. 47-9.

DANTE AND KING ROBERT OF NAPLES 153

entered the room where the King was. After hands had

been washed and places taken at table, the King sitting

at his own table, and the barons at theirs, at the last

Dante was placed at the lowest seat of all. Dante, being

a wise man, saw at once how little sense the King showed.

Nevertheless, being hungry, he ate, and after he had eaten,

he, without waiting, took his departure, and set out to-

wards Ancona on his way back to Tuscany. When KingRobert had dined, and rested somewhat, he inquired what

had become of Dante, and was informed that he had left

and was on his way towards Ancona. The King, knowing

that he had not paid Dante the honour which was his

due, supposed that he was indignant on that account, and

said to himself: ' I have done wrong ; after sending for

him, I ought to have done him honour, and then I should

have learned from him what I wanted'. He therefore

without delay sent some of his own servants after him,

who caught him up before he reached Ancona. Having

received the King's letter Dante turned round and went

back to Naples ; and dressing himself in a very handsome

garment presented himself before King Robert. Atdinner the King placed him at the head of the first table,

which was alongside of his own ; and Dante finding him-

self at the head of the table, resolved to make the Kingunderstand what he had done. Accordingly, when the

meat and wine were served, Dante took the meat and

smeared it over the breast of his dress, and the wine he

smeared over his clothes in like manner. King Robert

and the barons who were present, seeing this, said :' This

man must be a good-for-nothing ; what does he mean bysmearing the wine and gravy over his clothes ?

' Dante

heard how they were abusing him, but held his peace.

Then the King, who had observed all that passed, turned

to Dante and said :' What is this that I have seen you


doing? How can you, who are reputed to be so wise,

indulge in such nasty habits?' Dante, who had hoped

for some remark of this kind, replied :' Your majesty, I

know that this great honour which you now show me, is

paid not to me but to my clothes ; consequently I thought

that my clothes ought to partake of the good things you

provided. You must see that what I say is the case ; for

I am just as wise now, I suppose, as when I was set at

the bottom of the table, because of my shabby clothes

;

and now I have come back, neither more nor less wise

than before, because I am well dressed, you place me at

the head of the table.' King Robert, recognising that

Dante had rebuked him justly, and had spoken the truth,

ordered fresh clothes to be brought for him, and Dante

after changing his dress ate his dinner, delighted at having

made the King see his own folly. When dinner was over,

the King took Dante aside, and, making proof of his

wisdom, found him to be even wiser than he had been

told ; wherefore King Robert paid Dante great honour

and kept him at his court, in order that he might have

further experience of his wisdom and virtue."

The famous Florentine story-teller, Francesco Poggio

Bracciolini, more commonly known as Poggio, besides

the two anecdotes of Dante and Can Grande which have

already been given, relates the following of how Dante

disposed of a bore :

—

" At the time when our poet Dante was in exile at Siena,

as he was standing one day deep in thought, with his elbow

on one of the altars in the Church of the Minor Friars, as

though he were revolving in his mind some very abstruse

matter, some busybody went up to him, and disturbed himby speaking to him. Dante turned to him and said

:

' What is the biggest beast in the world ?'

' The elephant,'

was the reply. Then said Dante :' Oh ! elephant, leave

DANTE AND THE DOGE OF VENICE 155

me alone in peace, for I am pondering weightier matters

than your silly chatter '." ^

Another version of this story is included among The

Most Elegant and Witty Epigrams (first published in

161 5) of Sir John Harington. It is entitled

A good answere of the Poet Dant to an Atheist.

The pleasant learn'd Italian Poet Dant,

Hearing an Atheist at the Scriptures jest,

Askt him in jest, which was the greatest beast ?

He simply said ; he thought an Elephant.

Then Elephant (quoth Dant) it were commodious,

That thou wouldst hold thy peace, or get thee hence,

Breeding our Conscience scandal and offence

With thy prophan'd speech^ most vile and odious.

Oh Italy, thou breedst but few such Dants,

I would our England bred no Elephants.^

The following anecdote of Dante and the Doge of

Venice belongs to quite the end of Dante's life, the occa-

sion in question being when he was in Venice on his

embassy from Guido da Polenta in the summer of 1321,

a few months before his death :

—

" Dante of Florence being once on a mission in Venice,

was invited to dinner by the Doge on a fast-day. In front

of the envoys of the other princes who were of greater

account than the Polenta lord of Ravenna, and were served

before Dante, were placed the largest fish ; while in front

of Dante were placed the smallest. This difference of

treatment nettled Dante, who took up one of the little fish

in his hand, and held it to his ear, as though expecting it

to say something. The Doge, observing this, asked himwhat this strange behaviour meant. To which Dante

replied :' As I knew that the father of this fish met his

^Facezie di Poggio fiorentino. No. Ixvi.

'^ Book iv. No. 17 (see Paget Toynbee, Dante in English Literature,

vol. i. p. 84).

IS6 CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTE

death in these waters, I was asking him news of his father '.

' Well,' said the Doge, ' and what did he answer ?' Dante

replied :' He told me that he and his companions were

too little to remember much about him ; but that I might

learn what I wanted from the older fish, who would be

able to give me the news I asked for '. Thereupon the

Doge at once ordered Dante to be served with a fine large

fish."1

An English traveller in Italy at the beginning of the

eighteenth century picked up in Florence the following

curious story about Dante :

—

" This great man, we are told, had a most unhappy itch

of pilfering ; not for lucre (for it was generally of mere

trifles), but it was what he could not help ; so that the

friends whose houses he frequented, would put in his wayrags of cloth, bits of glass, and the like, to save things

of more value (for he could not go away without some-

thing) ; and of such as these, at his death, a whole roomfull was found filled."

^

Another anecdote is given by Isaac D'Israeli in his

Curiosities of Literature :—

" A story is recorded of Cecco d' Ascoli and of Dante,

on the subject of natural and acquired genius. Cecco

maintained that nature was more potent than art, while

Dante asserted the contrary. To prove his principle, the

great Italian bard referred to his cat, which, by repeated

practice, he had taught to hold a candle in its paw, while

he supped or read. Cecco desired to witness the experi-

ment, and came not unprepared for the purpose ; whenDante's cat was performing its part, Cecco, lifting up the lid

• Quoted by Papanti, op. cit. p. 157.

^ Edward Wright, Some Observations made in Travelling through

France, Italy, etc. in the Years MDCCXX, MDCCXXI,andMDCC^XII(London, 1730), ed. 1764, p. 395 (see Dante in English Literature, vol i.

pp. 216-17).

DANTE AND CECCO D' ASCOLI 157

of a pot which he had filled with mice, the creature of art

instantly showed the weakness of a talent merely acquired,

and dropping the candle flew on the mice with all its in-

stinctive propensity. Dante was himself disconcerted,

and it was adjudged that the advocate for the occult

principle of native faculties had gained his cause." ^

Many of these stories are obviously much older than

the time of Dante, and have been told of various famous

persons at different periods. Their association, however,

with Dante's name is sufficient proof of the estimation in

which he was held within a few years after his death, and

of the way in which his fame as a poet impressed the

popular imagination in Italy.

' Ed. 1866, vol. ii. {Anecdotes of the Fairfax Family), p. 464 (see

Dante in English Literature, vol. i. p. 508, and Papanti, of. cit. p. 197).

PART V

DANTE'S WORKS

CHAPTER I

Italian Works—Lyrical Poems—The Vita Nuova—The Csiivivio.

DANTE'S earliest known composition is the sonnet

beginning

" A ciascun' alma presa e gentil core,"

'

which, as he tells us in the Vita Nuova, he wrote after

seeing the marvellous vision which followed on the episode

of his being publicly saluted by Beatrice for the first time

in the streets of Florence, when they were both in their

eighteenth year (i.e. in the year 1283). This sonnet, he

further tells us, he sent to many famous poets of the day,

1 " To every captive soul and gentle heart

Unto whose ken these present words shall come,

That they may write me back their thoughts thereon,

Be greeting in their Lord's name, that is Love.

A third part well-nigh of those hours had passed

Wherein shines brightly every star on high,

When on a sudden Love appeared to me

;

And still I shudder when I think on him.

Methought Love stood all joyful as he held

My heart within his hand, and in his arms

My Lady bore enshrouded and asleep.

Whom then he waked, and of this flaming heart

Humbly did make her eat, she sore afraid

—

Then, as I looked, he wept and went his way."

158

CANZONIERE 159

from whom he received sonnets in reply. Among those

to whom he sent were his first friend, Guide Cavalcanti,

Cino da Pistoja, and Dante da Majano, whose replies have

been preserved.^

Cansoniere.—This sonnet and thirty other poems

(twenty-four sonnets, five canzoni, and one ballata) are

grouped together in a symmetrical arrangement in the

Vita Nuova (or New Life), the prose text of which is a

vehicle for the introduction and interpretation of the

poems. Others of Dante's lyrical poems are introduced

in his Convivio (or Banquet), which contains three canzoni,

and in his Latin work on the vulgar tongue {De Vulgari

Eloquentia), which contains quotations from nine poems,

canzoni and sestine. In addition to these there is a col-

lection of between ninety and a hundred lyrical poems

attributed to Dante, some of which are almost certainly

not his.^ Such of the poems of the Canzoniere as do not

belong to the Vita Nuova and Convivio appear to have

been composed at various times as independent pieces,

though attempts have been made to distinguish one or

more definite groups. Both Villani and Boccaccio makemention of Dante's lyrical poems. The former says :

^

" When he was in exile he wrote about twenty very excel-

lent canzoni, both moral and on the subject of love".

Boccaccio says :* " He composed numerous lengthy can-

zoni, and sonnets, and sundry ballate, both amorous and

moral, besides those which are included in the Vita

^ Translations of these three sonnets in reply (which are in the same

rimes as Dante's sonnet) are given by D. G. Rossetti in Dante and his

Circle (ed. 1874), pp. 131, 183, ig8.

'See Dante Dictionary, s.v. C0n,zoniere ; and The Vita Nuova andCanzoniere of Dante, by T. Okey and P. H. Wicksteed (1906), pp. 155-

357-s Bk. ix. ch. 136.

* Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 16, p. 74.

i6o DANTE'S WORKS

Nuova"} The earliest printed collection of Dante's

lyrical poems is that included in Sonetti e Canzoni di

diversi antichi Autori Toscani in died libri raccolte (Flor-

ence, 1527), the first four books of which contain forty-

five sonnets, nineteen canzoni, eleven ballate, and one

sestina, attributed to Dante. A few, however, of the

canzoni and madrigali (as they are described) had been

printed at Venice in 15 18, and reprinted at Milan in the

same year, in a collection entitled Canzoni di Dante.

Madrigali del detto. Madrigali di M. Cino et di M.Girardo Novello. Fifteen canzoni of Dante are printed

at the end of the editio princeps of the Vita Nuova (Flor-

ence, 1576).

Vita Nuova.—Dante's Vita Nuova or New Life (i.e.

according to some, his " young life," but more probably

his " life made new " by his love for Beatrice), the first

autobiographical work in modern literature, as it has been

described, was written probably between i292_and__i2Q5j_

when Dante was under thirty, and some seven or eight

years before his exile from Florence. The poems were

obviously written before the prose text, which was neces-

sarily composed later than the death of Beatrice in 1290.

The following positive dates are supplied by Dante in

the course of the narrative of the Vita Nuova, viz. that

he first saw Beatrice in the spring of 1 274, when he had

nearly completed his ninth year (§ 2, 11. 1-5, 15), and she

•There are three English translations of the Canzoniere, viz. byCharles Lyell (in unrimed verse, in the metres of the original) in

The Canzoniere of Dante, including the poems of the Vita Nuova andConvito (183s, 1840, 1845 ; a revised version of The Poems of the Vita

Nuova and Convito was issued, with other matter, in 1842) ; by DeanPlumptre (in rimed verse) in The Commedia and Canzoniere of Dante,

vol. ii. pp. 199-317 (1887) ; by P. H. Wicksteed (in prose) in The Convivio

of Dante (1903), and in The Vita Nuova and Canzoniere of Dante, pp.

156-357 (1906).

VITA NUOVA i6i

was at the beginning of her ninth year (§ 2, 11. 9- 1 S) ; that

Beatrice saluted him for the first time nine years later, in

the spring of 1283 (§ 3, 11. i-iS), when he wrote the sonnet,

"A ciascun' alma presa e gentil core' {Son. i.), his earliest

known composition ; that Beatrice died on the evening of

8 June, 1290^ (§ 30, 11. 1-13); that on the first anniversary

of her death (8 June, 1291) he wrote the sonnet, " Era ven-

uta nella mente mia" {Son. xviii.), in commemorationof her (§ 35, 11. 1-20); that not long after (i.e. probably""

as appears from Convivio, ii. 2, 11. i-io, in September,^j

1291),^ he saw for the first tim6 the "donna gentile"

(whom some have identified with Gemma Donati) *(§ 36,

11. 1-13). To these, if the identity of Beatrice with Bea-

trice Portinari be accepted, may be added the date of the

death of Folco Portinari,* viz. 31 December, 1289 (§ 22,

11. 1-7).

Boccaccio, \^o asserts that in later life Dante wasashamed of this work of his youth,^ gives the following

account of the Vita Nuova :—

" This glorious poet composed several works in his time,

of which I think it fitting to make mention in order, lest

any work of his be claimed by another, or the works of

others be perchance attributed to him.

" He, first of all, while his tears for the death of Bea-

trice were yet fresh, when he was nigh upon his twenty-

' See note on p. 47.

^See G. R. Carpenter, The Episode of the Donna Pietesa, in AnnualReport of the Cambridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society for i88g, p. 60.

^ See note on p. 67. * See above pp. 46-7.

' This is not borne out by what Dante himself says of it at the begin-

ning of the Convivio :" E se nella presente opera, la quale e Convivio

nominata e vo' Che sia, piu virilmente s! trattasse che nella Vita Nuova,

non intendo pero a quella in parte alcuna derogare, ma maggiormente

giovare per questa quella ; veggendo siccome ragionevolmente quella fer-

vida e passionata, questa temperata e virile essere conviene. Ch6 altro si

conviene e dire e operare a una etade, che ad altra" (i. i, 11. ni-2o).

II

1 62 DANTE'S WORKS

sixth year, collected together in a little volume, to which

he gave the title of Vita Nuova, certain small works, such

as sonnets and canzoni, composed by him in rime at

divers times before, and of marvellous beauty. Above

each of these, severally and in order, he wrote the occa-

sions which had moved him to compose them ; and be-

. low he added the divisions of each poem. And although

\ in his riper years he was much ashamed of having written

(this little book, yet, if his age be considered, it is very

'(beautiful and delightful, especially_ to ynlearned, folk." ^

' "The New Life" writes Professor Norton,^ "is the

proper introduction to the Divine Comedy. I t is the story

of the beginning of the love through which, even in Dante's

youth, heavenly things were revealed to him, and which

in the bitterest trials of life—in disappointment, poverty,

and exile—kept his heart fresh with springs of perpetual

solace. It was this love which led him through the hard

paths of Philosophy and up the steep ascents of Faith,

out of Hell and through Purgatory, to the glories of Para-

dise and the fulfilment of Hope." The narrative of the New Life is quaint, embroidered

with conceits, deficient in artistic completeness, but it has

the simplicity of youth, the charm of sincerity, the freedom

of personal confidence ; and so long as there are lovers in

the world, and so long as lovers are poets, this first and

tenderest love-story of modern literature will be read with

appreciation and responsive sympathy." It is the earliest of Dante's writings, and the most

autobiographic of them in fprmand intentiojo. In it weare brought into intimatepersonal relations with the poet

He trusts himself to us with full and free confidence,;, but

there is no derogation from becoming manliness in his

' Vita di Dante, ed. cit., § 13, p. 63.

' The New Life of Dante Alighieri, pp. 93 ff.

VITA NUOVA 163

confessions. He draws the picture of^a gortion of his

y£uth, and displays its secret emotions ; but he does so

with no morbid self-consciousness and with no affectation.

Part of this simplicity is due, undoubtedly, to the char-

acter of the times, part to his own youthfulness, part to

downright faith in his own genius. It was the fashion for

poets to tell of their loves ; in following this fashion, he

not only gave utterance to genuine feeling, and claimed

his rank among the poets, but also fixed a standard by

which the ideal expression of love was thereafter to be

measured." This first essay of his poetic powers rests on the founda-

tion upon which his later life was built. The figure of

Beatrice, which appears veiled under the symbolism, and

indistinct in the bright halo of the allegory of the Divine

Comedy, takes its place in life and on the earth through the

New Life as definitely as that of Dante himself. She is

no allegorized piece of humanity, no impersonation of at-

tributes, but an actual woman,—-beautiful, modest, gentle,

with companions only less beautiful than herself,—-the most

delightful personage in the daily picturesque life of Flor-

jence. She is seen smiling and weeping, walking with

other fair maidens in the street, praying at_the church,

nierry at festivalsj^ mourning at funerals; and her smiles

and tears, her gentleness, her reserve, all the sweet

qualities of her life, and the peace of her death, are told

of with such tenderness, and purity, and passion, as well

as with such truth of poetic imagination, that .she remains,

and will always remain, the loveliest and most womanly

w;oman of the Middle Ages,—at once absolutely real and

truly ideal.

" The meaning of the name La Vita Nuova has been

the subject of animated discussion. Literally The NewLife, it has been questioned whether this phrase meant

1 64 DANTE'S WORKS

isimply early life, or life made new by the first experience

and lasting influence of love. The latter interpretation

seems the most appropriate to Dante's turn of mind and

to his condition of feeling at the time when the little book

appeared. To him it was the record of that life which

the presence of Beatrice had made new."

Xhe Vita Nuova,w\ach. was dedicated to Dante's earliest

friend Guido Cavalcanti (^~3iv iU-aa^^X TO5sists_o£jthree

distinct elements, viz. lhe_goenis, rtie narrative of Jheevents which gave rise to the poems, and the expositions

of the structural divisions of the poems . Two distinctive

features of the work are the frequency with which Dante,

in accordance with the literary traditions of the day,^

introduces the expedient of visions, ofjvhich there areJlQ

less than seven in the book (§§ 3, 9, 12^ 23, 24, 40, 43)

;

and the^ important part played by the number nine, in

connection with the hour, day, month, and year of the

various events related concerning Beatrice. Thus Dante

first sees Beatrice when they were both in their ninth year

(" quasi dal principio del suo nono anno apparve a me, ed

io la vidi quasi alia fine del mio nono," § 2, 11. 13-15 ; cf.

§ 2, 11. 1-8 :" Nave fiate gia," etc.) ; he sees her again nine

years later (" appunto erano compiuti li nove anni appresso

r apparimento soprascritto," § 3, 11. 2-3) ; and receives her

first greeting at the ninth hour of the day (" 1' ora, che lo

suo dolcissimo salutare mi giunse, era fermamente nona di

quel giorno," § 3, 11. 16-18); his subsequent vision takes

place during the first of the last nine hours of the night

(" fu la prima ora delle nove ultime ore della notte," § 3,

11. 63-5). When he was minded to write a poem contain-

ing the names of the sixty fairest ladies of Florence, the

name of Beatrice would stand nowhere save in the ninth

place (" in alcuno altro numero non sofferse il nome della

^ See A. Bartoli, Storia della Letteraiura Italiana, vol, iv. p. 173.

VITA NUOVA 165

mia donna stare, se non in sul nove, tra' nomi di queste

donne," § 6, 11. 14-17). The third vision takes place at

the ninth hour of the day ("trovai che questa visione

m' era apparita nella nona ora del dl," § 12, 11. 74-5). Thevision in which he has a presentiment of the approaching

death of Beatrice, when he is laid low with sickness, occurs

on the ninth day of his illness (" nel nono giorno sentendomi

dolore quasi intollerabile, giunsemi un pensiero, il quale

era della mia donna ...,"§ 23, 11. 8-10). In the sonnet,

" lo mi sentii svegliar dentro alio core " {Son. xiv.), in which

Beatrice is mentioned, her name occurs in the ninth line ^

(§ 24, 1. 58). In the date of her death the number nine

comes in with special significance, in connection with the

day, the month, and the year, which are computed for the

purpose according to the Arabian, Syrian, and Romancalendars respectively^ ("secondo 1' usanza d' Arabia,

r anima sua nobilissima si parti nella prima ora del nono

giorno del mese ; e secondo 1' usanza di Siria, ella si parti

nel nono mese dell' anno ; . . . e secondo 1' usanza nostra,

ella si parti in quelle anno della nostra indizione, cio^ degli

anni Domini, in cui il perfetto numero nove volte era com-

piuto in quel centinaio nel quale in questo mondo ella fu

posta," § 30, 11. I-I2). Finally, his last vision of Beatrice,

when she appeared to him as she was when he first saw

her, took place just on the hour of nones (" si lev6 un dl,

quasi nell' ora di nona, una forte immaginazione in me," etc.,

§ 40, 11. 1-3). Dante himself draws particular attention to

the fact of this connection of the number nine with Beatrice,

and promises to explain the reason of it (§ 29, 11. 29-38),

which he subsequently does in detail (§ 30, 11. 13-32), his

^ This might be used as an argument in favour of the reading " Bice "

instead of " Lagia " in the sonnet, " Guido, vorrei che tu e Lapo ed io"

(Son. xxxii.), where the name occurs in the ninth line.

2 On this point see above, p. 47, note.

1 66 DANTE'S WORKS

conclusion being that she was " a nine, that is to say a

miracle, whose root is no other than the marvellous Trinity"

(" questa donna fu accompagnata dal numero del nove a

dare ad intendere, che ella era un nove, ciofe un miracolo, la

cui radice h solamente la mirabile Trinitade," § 30, 11. 37-41).

The form "of the composition of the F?V«iV«oz;fl, partly

in prose, partly in verse (as in the famous De Consolatione

Philosophiae of Boethius, with which Dante was intimately

acquainted, and the early French " chantefable," Aucassin

et Nkolete), was_ no doubt borrowed J^rom a Provencal

model, the prose text being a vehicle for theintroduction and

interpretation of the poems. The latter, which are thirty-

one in number, consisting oftwenty-fiye sonnets (including

two which are irregular), five canzoni(two of which are

imperfect), and one ballata, are symmetrically arranged

in groups around the three principal canzoni, the central

poem of all being the canzone, " Donna pietosa e di novella

etate '' {Canz. ii.).^

The work falls' naturally into two main divisions, viz.

the period before the death of Beatrice (1274- 1290), and

the period after her death (1290-^.1295). Taken in more

I

detail it may conveniently be divided into five parts,^ viz.

I (§§ 1-17) Dante's youthful love for Beatrice, and his£Qerns

\ in praise of her physical beauty; (§§ i8-28)jhis_praisesjof

fjthe s_piritual beaut^Mjf Beatrice ; (§§ 29-3S%the_death of

j Beatrice and the poems of lamentation; (§§ 36-3iQ.)'I)ante's

! Tovefor the " donna gentile," and the poems about her;'

(§§ 40-43) Dante's return to his love for Beatrice, and

! reverence for her memory.

The division into numbered chapters was not made byDante himself, and does not appear in any of the MSS.,

1 See C. E. Norton, The New Life ofDante (1892), pp. 129-34. Norton's

views, however, are contested by M. Scherillo, in La Forma Architettonica

delta Vita Nuova, in GiornaU Dantesco, ix. (1901)."^ See T. Casini, La vkta Nuova (1891), p. xxiii.

V/TA NUOVA 167

nor even in the printed editions before the middle of the

nineteenth century.'- It is, however, convenient for refer-

ence, and is now generally adopted in modern editions.^

Analysis of the Vita Nuova

:

—Part I. §§ I -17.—§ I. ("Proemio") Introductory, ex-

plaining the title of the book (" Incipit Vita Nova "), and

the author's purpose.— § 2. First meeting of Dante with

Beatrice (in the spring of 1274), he being nearly nine

years old, and she not yet nine.—§ 3. Nine years later

(in the spring of 1283), at the ninth hour of the day,

Dante for the first time receives a greeting from Bea-

trice ; his first vision (Love appears to him holding a lady

asleep in his arms, and in his hand Dante's heart in flames,

of which he gives the lady to eat, and then disappears,

bearing her away with him) ; he describes the vision in

the sonnet :" A ciascun' alma presa, e gentil core " {Son.

i.), which he sends to the most famous poets of the day

for interpretation ; he receives a reply among others from

Guido Cavalcanti.—§ 4. Dante falls ill through the in-

tensity of his passion for Beatrice;questioned as to the

object of his passion he refuses to reply.—§ 5. He dis-

sembles his love for Beatrice under pretence of devotion to

another lady.—§ 6. He composes a serventese containing

the names of the sixty fairest ladies in Florence, among

' It was first introduced in the edition of A. Torri, Livorno, 1843.

2 Unfortunately all editors have not adopted the same numeration.

Witte (Leipzig, 1876) and Casini, for example, do not number the opening

paragraph, which Dante himself refers to as " il proemio che precede questo

libello " (§ 29, 11. 17-18) ; while Torri, the Oxford Dante, and others

count it as § i. Again, Torri's § 3 is divided by Witte and Casini into two

(§§ 2, 3) ; while, on the other hand, Torri's and Witte's §§ 26, 27, are run

by Casini into one (§ 26). In the critical edition recently published by M.Barbi (Florence, 1907) for the Societd Dantesca Italiana the chapter

divisions differ from those of all previous editions ; and in the Oxford

Dante, the arrangement of which is followed in this book, yet another

system is adopted.

1 68 DANTE'S WORKS

which that of Beatrice will stand in no other than the

ninth place.—§ 7. The lady of his pretended devotion

leaves Florence ; he laments her departure in a sonnet

:

" O voi, che per la via d' Amor passate " {Son. ii.).—§ 8.

He writes two sonnets on the death of a beautiful damsel,

a friend of Beatrice :" Piangete, amanti, poich^ piange

Amore" {Son. in.); "Morte villana, di pieta nemica"

{Son. iv.).—§ g. He is obliged to take a journey out of

Florence in the direction taken by the lady of his- pre-

tended devotion ; his second vision (Love appears to him

in the guise of a pilgrim of sorrowful aspect, who calls to

him and tells him that he brings back his heart from the

keeping of the lady who had possessed it awhile, in order

that it may be at the service of another lady ; whereafter

he vanishes) ; which he describes in the sonnet :" Caval-

cando 1' altr' ier per un cammino " {Son. v.).—§ i o. Dante's

devotion to the second lady occasions remark, and causes

Beatrice to deny him her salutation.—§ 11. He describes

the marvellous effects on himself of the salutation of

Beatrice.—§ 12. Dante's distress at Beatrice's denial to

him of her salutation ; his third vision, which takes place

at the ninth hour of the day (Love appears to him in his

sleep, sitting at his bedside, and weeping piteously;

Dante questions him as to why Beatrice had denied himher salutation ; Love explains and bids him write a poemwhich shall make manifest to Beatrice his faithful and un-

altered devotion to her; he then disappears and Danteawakes) ; he composes the ballata :

" Ballata io vo' che

tu ritrovi Amore " {Ball. i.).—§ 13. Dante is assailed bydoubts as to whether the lordship of Love is a good thing

or the reverse ; he describes his doubts in the sonnet

:

" Tutti li miei pensier parlan d' Amore " {Son. vi.).— § 14.

He is conducted by a friend to a marriage-feast where hefinds himself in the presence of Beatrice ; he is so over-

VITA NUOVA 169

come by emotion that his confusion is remarked, and the

ladies, including Beatrice herself, whisper and mock at

him, whereupon his friend, perceiving his distress, leads

him away ; on his return home he addresses to Beatrice

the sonnet :" Coll' altre donne mia vista gabbate " {Son.

vii.).—§ 15. He is torn between his longing to be in the

presence of Beatrice, and his dread of appearing contempt-

ible in her eyes ; he addresses to her the sonnet :" Cib

che m' incontra, nella mente mora" {^Son. viii.).—§ 16.

He speaks of the pitiable condition to which he is reduced

by the thought of his love ; and describes how, though

he longs for the sight of Beatrice, he is utterly overcome

in her presence ; he addresses to her the sonnet :" Spesse

fiate vengonmi alia mente" {Son. ix.).—§ 17. Havingdisburdened his heart in the three preceding sonnets,

Dante determines to speak of a new matter.

Part n. §§ 18-28.—§ 18. He discourses with certain

ladies of his love for Beatrice, and resolves henceforth to

devote himself to the theme of her praises.—§ 19. After

a period of hesitation, at last one day, while walking be-

side a stream, his thoughts take shape, and on his return

home he composes the canzone :" Donne, ch' avete 1' intel-

letto d' amore " {Canz. i.).—§ 20. One of his friends, having

become acquainted with the canzone, desires him to ex-

pound the nature of love, whereon he composes the

sonnet :" Amore e '1 cor gentil sono una cosa " {^Son. x.).

—

§ 21. He describes in the sonnet, "Negli occhi porta la

mia donna Amore" {^Son. xi.), the effect produced on

others by Beatrice.—§ 22. Folco Portinari, the father of

Beatrice, dies (31 December, 1289); Dante composes two

sonnets :" Voi, che portate la sembianza umile " {Son.

xii.), and, " Se' tu colui, c' hai trattato sovente " {Son. xiii.),

treating of the discourse of certain ladies on the subject of

Beatrice's grief, and of his grief for her.—§ 23. Dante

I70 DANTE'S WORKS

falls ill ; he has presentiments of the death of Beatrice,

and on the ninth day of his illness he has a fourth vision

(he dreams that Beatrice is dead, and that he is taken to

see her as she lies on her death-bed) ^ ; on coming to him-

self again he relates his vision to certain ladies who were

at his bedside, and afterwards writes a description of it in

the canzone :" Donna pietosa e di novella etate " {Canz.

,ii.).—§ 24. He has a fifth vision (Love comes to him from

the dwelling-place of his lady, and bids him bless the day

whereon he was possessed by Love ; shortly after Beatrice

herself appears to him, preceded by Giovanna, the lady of

his friend Guido Cavalcanti), which he describes in the

sonnet: " lo mi sentii svegliar dentro alio core" {^Son.

xiv.).—§ 25. Dante explains his use of figurative language,

which is conceded to poets.—§ 26. Beatrice considered

a marvel by all who beheld her ; Dante's sonnet on the

subject :" Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare " {^Son. xv.).

—

§ 27. The praise and honour of Beatrice.is reflected on the

ladies about her ; as is set forth by Dante in the sonnet

:

" Vede perfettamente ogni salute" {Son. xvL).—§ 28. Theeffects upon him of his devotion to Beatrice intended to

be described in a canzone :" SI lungamente m' ha tenuto

Amore" {Canz. iii.), which was left unfinished.

Part III. §§ 29-35.—§ 29. The composition of Dante's

projected canzone {Canz. iii.) interrupted by the death of

Beatrice ; of the part played by the number nine in con-

nection with her death.—§ 30. Of the date of the death

of Beatrice, which befell on the ninth day, of the ninth

month, of the year in which the perfect number (ten) was

completed for the ninth time in the century in which she

lived, (i.e. 8 June, 1290), according to the Arabian, Syrian

and Italian reckonings respectively ; of the significance of

1 This is the subject of D. G. Rossetti's famous picture " Dante's

Dream," now in the Walker Art Gallery at Liverpool.

VITA NUOVA 171

the number nine, and of its intimate association with

Beatrice.—§ 31. Dante in his desolation addresses a letter,

beginning " Quomodo sedet sola civitas," to the chief per-

sonages of the city ; his reasons for not transcribing the

letter.—§ 32. He vents his grief in a canzone :" Gli occhi

dolenti per pieti del core" {Canz. iv.).— § 33. At the re-

quest of a brother of Beatrice, Dante writes the sonnet

:

"Venite a intender li sospirimiei" {Son. xvii.) on her

death.—§ 34. Dissatisfied with the sonnet, he composes

two stanzas of a canzone :" Quantunque volte lasso 1 mi

rimembra" {Cam. v.), on the same subject, which he gives

with the sonnet to Beatrice's brother.— § 35. On the first

anniversary of Beatrice's death, while drawing an angel,

he is interrupted by visitors, to whom he addresses a

sonnet, to which he made two beginnings :" Era venuta

nella mente mia" {Son. xviii.).

Part IV. §§ 36-39.—§ 36. Dante in deep distress at the

thought of the past, beholds a beautiful young lady (" una

gentil donna giovane ebella") regarding him with com-passion from a window ; he addresses her in a sonnet

:

" Videro gli occhi miei quanta pietate " {Son. xix.).—§ 37.

The "donna gentile" continues to show compassion for

him ; he addresses a second sonnet to her :" Color d'

amore, e di pieti sembianti" {Son. xx.).—§ 38. He begins

to take delight in the sight of the " donna gentile," and

reproaches himself for his inconstancy ; he composes a

sonnet on the state of his feelings :" L' amaro lagrimar

che voi faceste" {Son. xxi.).—§ 39. In another sonnet he

describes the struggle between his heart and his soul as

to this new love: "Gentil pensiero, che parla di vui"

{Son. xxii.).

PartY. §§40-43.—§ 40. While engaged in this struggle

Dante has a vision (the sixth) of Beatrice, youthful andclothed in crimson, as when he first saw her, whereon he

172 DANTE'S WORKS

repents of his inconstancy and devotes himself solely to

the thought of her ; he records the reconquest of himself,

and the effects of the violence of his weeping at the

recollection of his past unworthy passion, in a sonnet

:

"Lasso! per forza de' molti sospiri" {Son. xxiii.).—§ 41

He addresses a sonnet to certain pilgrims on their waythrough Florence to visit the Veronica at Rome, whomhe assumes to be from a far country, as they show no sign

of grief in passing through the grieving city :" Deh pere-

grini, che pensosi andate " {Son. xxiv.).— § 42. In re-

sponse to a request from two ladies for verses of his, he

composes a sonnet describing his condition :" Oltre la

spera, che piii larga gira " {Son. xxv.), which he sends to

them, together with the preceding :" Deh peregrini " {Son.

xxiv.), and another: " Venite a intender " (5o;«. xvii.).

—

§ 43. After composing this sonnet he has a last vision

(the seventh), which makes him resolve to speak no more

of Beatrice until he shall be able to say of her what was

never said of any woman ; he concludes with the prayer

that his soul may then be permitted to behold the glory

of Beatrice in the presence of the Everlasting God.

With the exception of the Latin Eclogues and Letters,

the Vita Nuova was the last of Dante's works to be

printed. The editio princeps, which was printed at

Florence, together with fifteen of Dante's canzoni, and

Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, did not appear until 1576, more

than a hundred years later than the first edition of the

Divina Commedia. It was not reprinted for a hundred

and fifty years, when it was included by Anton Maria

Biscioni, together with the Convivio, in his Prose di DanteAlighieri e di Messer Gio. Boccacci, published at Florence

in 1723. Since that date there have been some five-and-

twenty other editions, exclusive of mere reprints. The

CONVIVI

O

173

editio princeps, which was issued with the imprimatur oi^o.

Inquisition, contains a mutilated text, many passages or

phrases, which were considered offensive to the Church or

to religion, having been altered or suppressed.^ A critical

edition was published at Florence by Michele Barbi, under

the auspices of the Sodetd, Dantesca Italiana, in 1 907.

Forty manuscripts of the Vita Nuova are known to

exist, including three which are incomplete. Of these,

eight belong to the fourteenth century, sixteen to the

fifteenth, and sixteen to the sixteenth. None of these was

executed in Dante's lifetime, the earliest being assigned to

about the year 1 350, that is about thirty years after Dante's

death.2

Convivio.—Besides the Vita Nuova Dante wrote in

Italian prose the philosophical treatise to which he gave

the name of Convivio ^ or Banquet. This work consists

of a philosophical commentary, which Dante left incom-

plete, on three of his canzoni. According to the original

scheme it was to have been a commentary on fourteen

canzoni,* and would have consisted of fifteen books, the

first being introductory.

1 See Paget Toynbee, The Inquisition and the Editio Princeps of the

Vita Nuova, in Modern Language Review, April, igo8, vol. iii. pp. 228-31.

2 See the introduction (pp. xvii. ff.) to Barbi's critical edition. There

are eight English translations of the Vita Nuova, of which the first, by

Joseph Garrow, was published at Florence in 1846. Of the others the

best known are those by D. G. Rossetti (1862), Theodore Martin (1862),

and C. E. Norton (1867). The latest is that by Thomas Okey (igo6).

^This is the form of the title in the MSS., almost without ex-

ception, and in the editio princeps (1490) ; in the three sixteenth-century

editions {1521, 1529, 1531) the title is V amoroso Convivio. The title

Convito appears for the first time in the edition published by Biscioni (in

Prose di Dante Alighieri e di Messer Gio. Boccacci) at Florence in 1723.

The correct title Convivio was restored by Witte in 1879, and is nowalmost universally adopted (see Witte, Dante-Forschungen, vol. ii. pp.

574-80).

* See Convivio, i. i, 11. 102-5."

174 DANTE'S WORKS

Three of these projected books are specifically referred

to by Dante, viz. the seventh, in which he was to have

treated of temperance ^ ; the fourteenth, in which he pro-

posed to treat of justice ^ and allegory ^ ; and the fifteenth,

in which liberality was to have been treated of.*

Various attempts have been made to identify the

remaining eleven canzoni, which were to have been the

subject of commentary in the unwritten books, but none

of these is wholly satisfactory.*

In its unfinished state the Convivio consists of four

books, which show a tendency to become more and more

prolix as the work proceeds, the fourth book containing

thirty chapters, while the first, second, and third contain

respectively thirteen, sixteen, and fifteen. The division

of the books into chapters was made by Dante himself."

Giovanni Villani in his Florentine chronicle says of this

book :

—

" Dante commenced a commentary on fourteen of his

moral canzoni in the vulgar tongue, which is incomplete,

save as regards three of them, in consequence of his death.

This commentary, to judge by what we have of it, would

have been a lofty, beautiful, subtle, and very great work,

inasmuch as it is adorned by lofty style, and fine

philosophical and astrological discussions." ^

Boccaccio says :

—

" Dante also composed a commentary in prose in the

Florentine vulgar tongue on three of his canzoni at full

length ; he appears to have intended, when he began, to

^ Conv. iv, 26, 11. 66-7. ^ Conv. i. 12, 11. 86-8 ; iv. 27, 11. 100-2.

5 Conv. ii. 1, 11. 34-6. ^ Conv. i. 8, 11. 130-2 ; iii. 15, 1. 144.

'See Antonio Santi, II Canzoniere di Dante Alighieri, vol. ii. pp.

13 ff. (Roma, 1907).

" See Conv. i. 4, 1. 4 ; ii. 7, 1. i ; iii. 6, 1. i ; iv. 2, 1. 77 ; etc. etc.

' Bk. ix. ch. 136. This passage is omitted from some MSS. of the

Cronica.

CONVIVI

O175

write a commentary upon all of them, but whether he

afterwards changed his mind, or never had time to carry out

his intention, at any rate he did not write the commentaryon more than these three. This book, which he entitled

Convivio, is a very beautiful and praiseworthy little work." ^

The Convivio was written some time after the Vita

Nuova, but before the Divina Commedia, in which Dante

sometimes corrects opinions he had expressed in the Con-

vivio, such as his theories as to the spots on the moon,^

and the arrangement of the celestial hierarchies.^ Fromthe references to the Emperor Albert I (iv. 3, 1. 42) and

to Gherardo da Cammino (iv. 14, 11. 114 fif.) it would ap-

pear to have been composed (perhaps at Bologna) between

April, 1306 (Gherardo having died on 26 March, 1306)

and I May, 1308 (the date of Albert's death).* It was

certainly written after Dante's exile from Florence, as

at the beginning of the work there is a most pathetic

reference to the miseries he endured during his wanderings

as an outcast from his native city.^

Dante explains in the first book, which is intro-

ductory, the meaning of the title, the aim of the work,

and the difference between it and the Vita Nuova ;

he himself, he says, as the author, represents the

servants at an actual banquet {convivio) ; he then points

out that the book is of the nature of a commentary,

and is written in a lofty style in order to give it an

air of gravity and authority, and to counterbalance the

objection of its being in Italian ; he next gives his reasons

for writing it in the vulgar tongue instead of in Latin, in

which respect it differs from other commentaries ; he

1 Vita di Dante, ed. cit. § 16, p. 74.

^ Conv. ii. 14, U. 69 ff. ; Par. ii. 49-148 ; xxii. 139-41.

' Conv. ii. 6, 11. 39 ff. ; Par. xxviii. 40-139.

* See Zingarelli, Vita di Dante (1905), pp. 45, 52.

^ Conv. i. 3, 11. 20 if, ; see the passage quoted above, pp. 88-g.

176 DANTE'S WORKS

further explains that the commentary stands in the same

relation to the canzoni as a servant does to his master

;

and he concludes by declaring that in this work is made

manifest the great excellence of the Italian language

—

that language which he was destined to bring to the

highest degree of perfection in the Divina Commedia.

Analysis of the Convivio ^ ;

—

Book I.

—

Chap. I. Introductory. The work under-

taken in order to justify the universal desire for know-

ledge spoken of by Aristotle. Causes whereby men maybe prevented from acquiring the highest knowledge.

Happy those who sit at the table where the bread of

angels is eaten. Dante himself sits not at the table, but

gathers up the fragments which fall from it. Moved with

pity for his kind, he reserves a part of his store, both

bread and meat, to make a feast {convivio') for them.

The meat will be served in fourteen canzoni, the bread

will be served in the commentary which will give first

the literal, then the allegorical interpretation of the can-

zoni. The author explains the reason for the difference

in style between the present work and the Vita Nuova.—Chap. 2. As bread served at a banquet is freed from

impurity by the servants, so must the commentary be freed

from objection. Two objections may be urged, viz. that

the author has to speak of himself, and that the commen-tary is difficult to understand. Teachers of rhetoric forbid

a man to speak of himself, but it is allowable in excep-

tional cases, as in self-defence, and for the edification of

others. Dante pleads both these reasons in the present

instance : he wishes to defend himself from the charge of

having yielded to passion in his canzoni, and to instruct

'Adapted, by kind permission of the author, from the "Summary of

Contents" prefixed to each book in the translation of the Co«i;i»Jo bythe Rector of Exeter College, Dr. W. W. Jackson (Oxford, 1909).

CONVIVIO 177

others in the writing and understanding of allegory.

—

Chap. 3. As to the difficulty of the commentary, this is

intentional, in order to counteract certain disadvantages

under which the author labours. He has been exiled

from his beloved Florence, and has wandered in poverty

all over Italy, thus becoming known and despised in

every quarter. Report magnifies, and personal knowledge

diminishes, a man's good and evil qualities. Good re-

port is magnified as it passes from one to another ; so too is

evil report.

—

Chap. 4. On the other hand a man's presence

diminishes his apparent worth for three reasons : viz. the

proneness of men, like children, to judge by the outside

;

their envy, which makes them blind to the truth ; and

the natural imperfection of the person judged. Wherefore

a prophet is without honour in his own country. AsDante's presence has become familiar throughout Italy

during his wanderings as an exile, he wishes to counter-

act the effect of this familiarity by the adoption of a

somewhat lofty style for his commentary ; hence its diffi-

culty.

—

Chap. 5. The commentary has been freed from

accidental flaws, but one defect is inherent in it, viz. that

it is written in Italian, not in Latin. Three reasons for

the choice of the vernacular, viz. to avoid disorder, for the

sake of liberality, and from natural affection for the

mother-tongue. As to the first reason : the best results

are obtained when the qualities of the agent are adapted

for the end in view. The qualities of a good servant are

subjection, intimate acquaintance with his master, and

obedience. Latin is devoid of all these qualities. Firstly,

it is not subject, but by nature sovereign.

—

Chap. 6.

Secondly, Latin has not the intimate acquaintance with

Italian which is needed for a commentary on the canzoni

;

it has only a general knowledge of Italian, and has no in-

timacy with its friends ; whereas a good servant should

178 DANTE'S WORKS

have an intimate knowledge both of his master and of his

master's friends.

—

Chap. 7. Thirdly, Latin could not be

obedient. Perfect obedience should be free from bitter-

ness ; it should result from a command, not from choice

;

and it should be duly measured. Latin could not fulfil these

conditions. Remarks on the inadequacy of translation.

—

Chap. 8. The second reason for choosing Italian is its

liberality. Perfect liberality gives to many ; its gifts are

useful; and it gives without being asked. Explanation

of these characteristics, which are shown to be essential.

—

Chap. 9. In the case of Latin, the liberality would not

have been perfect, for it does not possess these char-

acteristics. It would not have served many, for it

would not have been uriderstood, inasmuch as nobody

learns Latin except for gain. It would not have been

useful, iox few would have used it. It would not have

given itself unasked, for every one demands that commen-taries should be in Latin.

—

Chap. 10. The third reason for

choosing Italian is the natural affection which a man feels

for his mother-tongue. Natural affection prompts a manto magnify its object, to be jealous for it, and to defend

it. Dante displays his love for Italian in all these three

ways. He magnifies it by displaying it in act, not merely

in potentiality. His jealousy for it moved him to write

his commentary in Italian, lest if he wrote it in Latin some

bungler hereafter should translate it into Italian. He is

anxious to defend his mother-tongue against those whodisparage it, in favour of Provencal, for instance, and to

exhibit it in its native beauty. This is best displayed in

prose, as a woman's beauty is seen best when unadorned.

—

Chap. II. Five detestable causes move men to disparage

their mother-tongue, viz. lack of discernment, deceitful

excuses, love of vainglory, the prompting of envy, and

faint-heartedness. As to the first, those who lack dis-

CONVIVIO 179

cernment are like blind men, or senseless sheep. As to

the second, the bad workman blames his tools or his

materials, not himself. Those who are unskilled in the

use of Italian lay the blame on it, and exalt another

tongue at its expense. As to the third, vainglory impels

a man to seek praise for mastering a tongue other than

his own. As to the fourth, those who cannot use Italian

envy those who can, and therefore decry it. As to the

fifth, a faint-hearted man always thinks meanly ofhimself

and his belongings, and therefore despises his mother-

tongue.

—

Chap. 12. Dante's affection for his mother-tongue

incontestable. Affection is inspired by propinquity and

goodness, and increased by benefits conferred, and bycommon aims and intercourse. A man's mother-tongue

is nearest to him. Also, it displays the characteristic ex-

cellence of language, in that it best enables a man to

express his meaning.

—

Chap. 13. The conditions which in-

crease affection are also present. If existence is the

greatest boon, then a man's mother-tongue is to be loved

as having given him existence, by bringing his parents

together. Further, it led Dante into the way of know-

ledge by enabling him to learn Latin. The vernacular,

moreover, if it could have a conscious aim, would

seek to preserve itself by assuming the most durable

shape, namely the poetic. It has been Dante's aim to give

it this shape. All his life he has also had the most familiar

intercourse with his mother-tongue. Dante may thus

claim to have purged his Italian commentary from all

stain, so that the meat may now be served up with this

bread, and may be partaken of by the multitude.

Book II.

—

Canzone: "Voi ch' intendendo il terzo ciel

movete".

—

Chap. i. The commentary on the canzoni

will explain both the literal and allegorical sense. Four

senses of writings to be distinguished, viz. the literal,

1 80 DANTE'S WORKS

which lies on the surface ; the allegorical, which is the truth

underlying the literal ; the moral, which conveys a lesson

of life and conduct ; and the anagogical, or spiritual,

which refers to heavenly things. Reasons why the literal

sense must first be determined.

—

Chap. 2. The first can-

zone says, literally, that Venus had completed two revolu-

tions when a gentle lady appeared to the poet in company

with Love. The victory of the new thought, concerning

this lady, over the former thought, concerning Beatrice,

impels him to address the heavenly powers whence the

new thought derived its strength. Division of the canzone

into three principal parts.

—

Chap. 3. To make the literal

sense of the first part clear, Dante explains who they are

whom he addresses, and what is the third heaven which

they move. Discussion of the number of the heavens

;

eight enumerated by Aristotle; a ninth recognized byPtolemy.

—

Chap. 4. The order of the first eight heavens,

which are those of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun,

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Fixed Stars. Beyond

these is the Crystalline Heaven or Primuni Mobile. Out-

side of this again is situated, according to the teaching of

the Church, the Empyrean, which is the abode of the

Deity and of Blessed Spirits, and which exists not in space

but only in the Primal Mind. Description of the con-

struction of the heavens, each of which has two poles and

an equator. Of the epicycle of Venus.

—

Chap. 5. Thebeings who move the heavens explained to be angelic

Intelligences. Opinions of Aristotle, Plato, and others on

the subject. Of the active, and contemplative, life. Thelatter the most appropriate to Angels, as being the highest.

The motion of the heavens due to the thought of certain

of these Angels. These beings created by the Deity in

infinite numbers, as even the intellect of man, who sees

but darkly, can conceive.

—

Chap. 6. Of Angels according

CONVIVI i8i

to the Scriptures. Their division into three hierarchies,

each consisting of three orders. Distribution of the nine

orders among the various heavens. The manner of their

contemplation determined by the nature of the Trinity.

The Thrones assigned to the third heaven, that of Venus.

Virgil, Ovid, and Alfraganus, cited as to the function, andthreefold motion, of this heaven, the movers of which are

those to whom Dante addresses himself.

—

Chap. 7. Themeaning of his prayer for audience, his reasons for address-

ing the movers of the third heaven, and the inducement

offered to them. Explanation of certain terms used in the

canzone.

—

Chap. 8. Literal sense of the second part of the

canzone, which has two subdivisions. Of the two contend-

ing thoughts mentioned above. Further explanations of

terms employed.— Chap. 9. Solution of difficulty as to

the inspiration of Dante's new thought by the same Intelli-

gences which inspired the old. Digression on the immor-

tality of the soul. Agreement of pagan and Christian

teaching on the subject.

—

Chap. 10. Further explanation

of expressions used in the canzone. Incidental statement

as to how impressions enter the eye, and become stamped

on the imagination. — Chap. 1 1. Consideration of the

reasons alleged by the Spirit of Love in favour of the

second lady, especially the qualities of pity and courtesy.

Of the relation between " piety " and " pity ". Definition

of " courtesy," which if named from the courts of that day,

especially in Italy, would mean baseness.

—

Chap. 12.

Having dealt with the literal meaning of the part of the

canzone addressed to the Intelligences of the third heaven,

Dante now deals with the last part, the tornata, which is

addressed to the canzone itself Explanation of the term.

Of the beauty and goodness of the canzone.

—

Chap. 1 3.

The literal sense being disposed of, Dante now passes

to the allegorical meaning. How, in his desire to find

1 82 DANTE'S WORKS

consolation for the loss of his soul's first delight, he turned

to the study of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae, and

to Cicero's De Amidtia, and was thereby led on to the

study of philosophy, which in time banished all other

thoughts. His canzone in praise of philosophy written

in the vulgar tongue ostensibly about a lady, since philo-

sophy /erj^ was too exalted to be praised in the verna-

cular, and further, men would more readily credit him

with love for a lady than for philosophy. The canzone

thus being an allegory of philosophy, the third heaven

and its movers must also receive an allegorical inter-

pretation.

—

Chap. 14. Heaven allegorically interpreted

signifies scientific knowledge, and the heavens signify

the sciences. Three points of resemblance between the

heavens and the sciences. Correspondence of the first

seven heavens with the seven sciences of the Trivium and

Quadrivium, of the eighth with physics and metaphysics,

of the ninth with moral science, and of the tenth with

divine science, or theology. Detailed statement of points

of comparison between the seven sciences and the first

seven heavens.

—

Chap. 15. Points of comparison between

physics and metaphysics and the eighth heaven, between

moral philosophy and the ninth heaven, between theology

and the tenth heaven. Incidental discussion of the vari-

ous opinions as to the nature of the Galaxy. The third

heaven shown to represent rhetoric.

—

Chap. 16. Themovers of the third heaven represent rhetoricians, such as

Boethius and Cicero above mentioned. The lady of the

canzone thus shown to be philosophy, and her eyes the

demonstrations of philosophy.

Book HI.

—

Canzone: "Amor, che nella mente miragiona".

—

Chap. i. Three reasons which impelled Danteto give expression to his passion for the gentle lady, viz.

the desire of gaining honour for himself through his friend-

CONVI VIO

183

ship with her, the desire that this friendship should be

lasting, and the desire to avoid reproach by stating whothe lady was. Division of the canzone into three principal

parts.

—

Chap. 2. Explanation of the first part. Love de-

fined as the spiritual union of the soul with the object

loved. Of all things the human soul has most affinity

with God, and consequently is most closely united with

whatever most nearly resembles God. The love of which

Dante speaks is the union of his soul with the gentle lady.

The place where love discourses is the mind, or thinking

faculty, which is the highest of the three faculties of the

soul, and which belongs only .to man and to divine sub-

stances.

—

Ckap. 3. Man, though his essence be one, is

capable of feeling every sort of love, such as is felt bysimple and composite bodies, by plants, and by animals.

The love which is the poet's theme is the highest of all

;

he can neither fully apprehend it nor express it.

—

Chap. 4.

Explanation of this incapacity of mind and speech, for

which Dante is not to be blamed, since blame attaches to

want of will, not to want of power.

—

Chap, 5. Discussion

of the second stanza of the canzone, in which the lady

is praised as a whole, both in soul and body. Longdigression explaining and illustrating the revolution of the

Sun round the Earth.

—

Chap. 6. Explanation ofthe mean-

ing of " temporal " and "equal " hours. The Intelligences

on high gaze on his lady, as a thought existing in the

divine mind. She is beloved by God as being endowed

with a special portion of the divine nature, and admired

by man inasmuch as her soul dignifies the body, which is

the actuality of the soul.

—

Chap. 7. Praise of the lady as

regards her soul. The goodness of God is diffused over

all things, but enters into various substances, as light does,

in proportion to their receptivity. In the intellectual

order are infinite gradations, hence it .may be assumed

184 DANTE'S WORKS

that some human being is little lower than the angels.

Such is this lady. Her speech and acts afford an example

to others, and are an aid to the faith of all mankind,

whereby they gain everlasting life.

—

Chap. 8. Praise of

the lady in respect of her body, especially of those parts

in which the soul chiefly operates, viz. the eyes and mouth.

Explanation of sundry expressions in the fourth stanza of

the canzone. Distinction between innate and habitual

vices. Definition of the end and source of this lady's

beauty.

—

Chap. g. Discussion of third division of the can-

zone. Explanation why the lady, who was forhierly

called proud and disdainful, is now called humble. Illus-

tration drawn from the sky, which always has the quality

of brightness, but does not always appear bright. State-

ment of the theory of vision. Reference to Dante's ownweakness of sight.

—

Chap. lO. Of judgment by outward

appearance at the prompting of desire; and of the

rhetorical figure known as dissimulation.

—

Chap. ii. Alle-

gorical meaning of the canzone discussed. Origin of the

terms " philosophy" and " philosopher," i.e. lover ofwisdom.

Ofthe nature of friendship. The name of philosophy given

to the sciences, natural, moral, and metaphysical, above

all to the last, which is called philosophy /ar excellence.—Chap. 12. Of two kinds of devotion {studio). Reasons

why the Sun is worthy to be a type of God. As the Sun

illumines first itself, and then all other sensible objects, so

God illumines first Himself, and then all other intellectual

beings. As injury done by the Sun is not intentional but

accidental, so badness in things which partake ofintellectual

light, as in bad angels, is not designed but accidental.

Philosophy part of the divine essence, and as it were the

bride, the sister, and daughter of the Emperor of heaven.—Chap. 13. Philosophy resides also in the celestial

Intelligences. Her highest gifts enjoyable only in use,

CONVIVIO 185

not merely in possession, though he who only possesses

her is still a philosopher, for philosophy is always trans-

cendent.

—

Chap. 14. The allegorical interpretation, follow-

ing the literal, passes from general commendation of the

lady to particular. Discussion and explanation of various

expressions in the third stanza of the canzone. Of the

distinction between "light" and "splendour''. Theancient philosophers indifferent to all things save wisdom.

Of the effect of philosophy on the soul, especially in aiding

faith.

—

Chap. 15. Discussion of the fourth stanza. Theeyes of philosophy explained to be her demonstrations,

and her smiles her persuasions. The difficulty of under-

standing her obliges man sometimes, to be content with

negations ; but the desire of wisdom is not futile in manor angels, because it is always proportionate to their nature.

The beauty of wisdom signifies the moral virtues, which

are impaired by vanity and pride; hence she teaches

humility. Her highest praise is that she is mother of

first principles, hence she was the partner of God in the

creation of the world. Passing to the tornata, Danteexplains why at first he called philosophy fierce and

disdainful.

Book IV.

—

Canzone: "Le dolci rime d' amor, ch' io

soUa".

—

Chap. i. Dante's love for philosophy makes himlove truth and hate falsehood. Hence his desire to lead

men to entertain true and reject false opinions with regard

to human goodness, or nobility. Nobility the theme of

the third canzone ; consequently the exposition will not

be concerned with allegory, but will give a fuller treat-

ment of the literal meaning.— Chap. 2. Division of the

canzone into two principal parts, the preface, and the mainargument. The preface subdivided into three parts. Im-portance of choosing the right time, as well for the speaker

as for the hearer. Dante's object both to refute what is

1 86 DANTE'S WORKS

false, and, more especially, to emphasise the truth.

—

Chaf.

3. Subdivision of the main argument [trattatd) of the

canzone into three parts, the first of which is again sub-

divided into two. Nobility defined by the Emperor

Frederick II as ancestral wealth and fine manners.

—

Chap. 4. Mention of the Emperor leads Dante to consider

at length the nature of the Imperial authority, its origin,

and necessity. The Roman Empire shown to be the seat

of this authority.

—

Chap. 5. The working of divine Pro-

vidence demonstrated in the rise and progress of the

Roman Empire, and in the noble deeds of her sons.

—

Chap. 6. Discussion of the derivation and meaning of the

word " authority ". Aristotle, the master and leader of

human reason, declared to be the highest authority. His

opinion, and that of other philosophers as to the " end of

human life" examined. Aristotle's opinion shown not to

conflict with the Imperial authority ; both philosopher and

emperor needed to constitute the highest authority.

—

Chap. 7. Of the danger of allowing a wrong opinion to

prevail unchecked. The defects of popular opinion due

to disregard of proper guidance. Those who go astray

for this reason the vilest of all, just as he is least excusable

who strays from the path with the footprints of others to

guide him. Such an one, in the words of the canzone,

" is dead while he liveth".

—

Chap. 8. Of discernment, and

of reverence, one of its fairest fruits. In rejecting commonopinion Dante appeals from the judgment of sense to that

of reason ; and in rejecting the opinion of the Emperor, he

is not irreverent, since Imperial authority does not extend

to the domain of reason.

—

Chap. 9. Imperial authority has

jurisdiction over all human activities, but these are limited,

some being purely natural, while others are subject to reason

and will. Activities with which reason is concerned are

of four kinds. That activity which derives its character

CONVIVIO 187

solely from the act of the will is most completely under our

control ; and, generally speaking, responsibility is propor-

tionate to the power exercised by the will. Law intended

to be a guide to the will. Action may be compared with

art, that is, production. Many processes of production

are purely technical, and here art is supreme ; but in

others art is limited by the laws of its subject-matter.

Similarly the Emperor's authority is limited by the law

of reason and of nature. The definition of nobility

therefore does not come within his scope.

—

Chap. 10.

Criticism of previous opinions. In so far as definitions

of nobility make fine manners essential to it they are

right, though defective. But in introducing the notion of

time, or of wealth, they are erroneous . Philosophical argu-

ments against making nobility dependent on wealth.

—

Chap. 1 1 . The inferiority of wealth attributable to three

special imperfections, viz. lack of discrimination in its ad-

vent, dangers attendant upon its increase, and disasters

consequent on its possession. Consideration of the first

of these imperfections. Of that most noble exchange,

made, alas ! by so few, of riches for the hearts of men.

Instances of munificence.

—

Chap. 12. Increase of wealth

shown to be evil, inasmuch as it brings the torment of

boundless and therefore futile desire. Those who would

apply this same argument in the case of knowledge, ig-

nore the essential difference between the two kinds of de-

sire.

—

Chap. 13. The desire of riches is uniform and keeps

growing, and is therefore never consummated ; while the

desire of knowledge is a succession of desires, each of

which is consummated in turn. Consideration of the

disasters consequent on the possession of wealth, which

not only inflicts positive evil on its possessor, but also de-

prives him of good.

—

Chap. 14. Refutation of the error

which makes nobility depend oh time, by defining it as

1 88 DANTE'S WORKS

consisting in ancestral wealth. The opinion that no one

who begins by being a clown can ever become a gentle-

man, and vice versa, antagonistic to the claim that time is

requisite for nobility. The contention that nobility begins

when low birth is forgotten, shown to be absurd on four

grounds. Firstly, a feeble memory, which is a bad thing,

would be the cause of nobility, which is a good thing, and

the shorter men's memories the quicker would nobility be

engendered. Secondly, the distinction between meanand noble would not be applicable to anything but man,

whereas we often speak of a noble or mean horse, falcon,

pearl, etc. Thirdly, the thing engendered (nobility)

would often be in existence before its cause (oblivion)

came into operation. Fourthly, some would be considered

noble after death who were not noble during life.

—

Chap. 15. Again, if a man cannot change from simple to

gentle, and vice versa, one of two absurdities must follow

:

either nobility does not exist at all, or the world must

always have had more than one man in it, which is contrary

to both Christian and pagan belief. The error in question

is manifest to sound minds. Minds are sound when not

hampered by evil dispositions, three kinds of which are

specified, viz. boastfulness, dejection of mind, and levity

of nature.

—

Ckap. 16. Dante now passes to the examina-

tion of the true definition of nobility, " Nobility " signifies

in each thing the perfection of the nature peculiar to it.

The word derived not from nosco, as some suppose, but

from non vile. The quality will be defined by its fruits,

viz. the moral and intellectual virtues.

—

Chap. 17. Themoral virtues peculiarly our own fruits, as being wholly in

our own power. Aristotle's classification of these virtues.

His definition of happiness. We have two kinds ofhappi-

ness, according as we follow the active or the contem-plative life, of which the latter is the higher, as Christ

CONVI VI 189

teaches with reference to Martha in the Gospel of Luke.

—

Chap. 18. Every moral virtue springs from right choice.

Right choice is also characteristic of nobility. One of

these (virtue or nobility) therefore must come from the

other, or both from a third. The more comprehensive of

the two terms (nobility) must be taken as the original

source of the characteristic.

—

Chap. ig. Nobility shown to

be a wider term than virtue, as including divers other

kinds of excellence, as well bodily as mental ; it even ex-

tends to regions where virtue is not found, as in the quali-

ties of woman and of the young.

—

Chap. 20. Thusnobility enters into the conception of virtue, and is some-

thing divine. But the gift is bestowed only on the soul

adapted for its reception. Hence nobility is a seed of

blessedness placed by God in the soul fitted to receive

it.

—

Chap. 21. Of the agencies, natural and spiiitual, bywhich nobility descends into men. Theories of the

ancients as to the nature and origin of the soul. Natural

agencies, including the influences of the generating soul,

of the heaven, and of the " complexion " of the material,

prepare the material to receive the formative virtue which

proceeds from the generating soul; the formative virtue

in turn prepares it for the heavenly virtue from which life

comes. The potential intellect, in which exist potentially

the universal forms derived from the primal Intelligence,

is imparted by the mover of the heaven. The purity of

the soul is in proportion to the goodness of the various

agencies ; and in proportion to its purity the divine ex-

cellence multiplies in the intellectual virtue, and becomes

the seed of happiness. Divine agencies impart the seven-

fold gift of the Spirit, but man is responsible for the cul-

tivation of the seed.

—

Chap. 22. Of natural appetite,

which at first is without discrimination, but afterwards be-

comes discriminated. Rational desire belonging to the

190 DANTE'S WORKS

mind, i.e. the will and intellect, is the highest and brings

the highest happiness. Such as have not this desire im-

planted in them by nature, may get it ingrafted in them.

Of the higher blessedness of the contemplative over the

active life.

—

Chap. 23. Discussion of the seventh stanza

of the canzone. Dante shows how nobility is displayed

in the different stages of life. The life of man likened to

an arch rising to its highest point (at the thirty-fifth year)

and declining. Illustration from the life of the Saviour.

Correspondence between the four ag€s in man (adolescence,

youth, old age, decline) and the four divisions of the

year (the seasons) and of the day (the canonical tierce,

none, sext, and vespers, of which an explanation is

given),

—

Chap. 24. Of the duration of the four ages of

human life. Adolescence lasts till the twenty-fifth year

;

youth to the forty-fifth ; old age to the seventieth ; after

which begins decline. Adolescence naturally endowedwith four things, obedience, suavity, sense of shame, and

comeliness. Of obedience.

—

Ckap.2i,. Of suavity in adoles-

cence. Of the sense of shame, which consists in awe,

modesty, shamefacedness. These three qualities illus-

trated from the history of Adrastus in the Thebaid of

Statins. Of bodily comeliness.

—

Chap. 26. Five char-

acteristics of youth, to be temperate, brave, full of love,

courteous, and loyal. Temperance and courage respec-

tively the bridle and spur of desire, as exemplified byVirgil in the history of Aeneas in the Aeneid, whence also

illustrations of the other three qualities are drawn.

—

Chap. 27. Of the four virtues most suitable to old age, viz.

to be prudent, just, bountiful, and fairspoken {affabile).

Illustrations of these qualities drawn from the history of

Cephalus and Aeacus in the Metamorphoses of Ovid.

—

Chap. 28. Of the two qualities most proper to the fourth

stage of life (decline)j resignation of the soul to God, and

CONVIVI 191

thankfulness for the journey ended. Illustrations from

the history of Marcia and Cato in Lucan's Pharsalia.—Chap. 29. Of those who believe themselves noble because

they are of noble lineage. A family may be called noble

if the majority of its members are truly noble, but a

worthless member of it is not entitled to claim nobility on

that score. Illustration from a heap of grain.

—

Chap. 30.

Discussion of the tornata of the canzone. Its title {Contra

gli erranti) imitated from that of Aquinas' book Contra

Gentiles. The canzone bidden to address herself only to

such as have some love for the gentle lady, philosophy.

The friend of philosophy, mentioned in the last line, ex-

plained to be nobility, there being ever the deepest love

and admiration between these two.

The first printed edition of the Convivio was issued at

Florence in 1490, eighteen years later than the editio

princeps of the Divina Commedia. The treatise was three

times reprinted at Venice in the sixteenth century (1521,

1529, 1531)- No edition of it was published in the seven-

teenth century. The fifth edition did not appear until

1723, when the work was printed by Anton Maria Bis-

cioni (under the title of Convito)} together with the Vita

Nuova, in his Prose di Dante Alighieri e di Messer Gio.

Boccacci, published at Florence in that year. Critical edi-

tions, with a more or less improved text, were published

at Milan in 1826 (reprinted at Padua in the following year),

and at Modena in 1831 ; but the first really critical text,

based on the authority of all the available manuscripts,

was that of Dr. Moore, which was first printed in the Ox-ford Dante in 1894, and was reprinted in an amended

form in the third edition of that work in 1904.

Thirty-three manuscripts of the Convivio are known, of

lAs to this form of the title of the treatise, see above, p. 173, note 3.

192 DANTE'S WORKS

which three are in England.^ No critical account nor

classification of these manuscripts has yet been published,

but at least six of them belong to the fourteenth century.^

^ One in the Canonici collection in the Bodleian Library at Oxford

;

one in the Earl of Leicester's collection at Holkham ; and one in the

possession of Dr. Edward Moore at Canterbury. TheFe are four English

translations of the Convivio, viz. by Elizabeth Sayer (1887), Katharine

Hillard (1889), P. H. Wicksteed (1903), and W. W. Jackson (1909).

' See Zingarelli, Dante, p. 389.

DANTE AND HIS BOOK

Front the ficture by Doinemco di Michelino, in the Duonto at Florence

CHAPTER II

The Divina Commedia—Its origin, subject, and aim—Date of com-position—Scheme of the fJoem—Boccaccio's story of the lost cantos

—

Why it was written in Italian—Dante and his rimes—Manuscripts andprinted editions—English editions and translations—Commentaries.

r\IVINA COMMEDIA.—M. the close of the Vita"^ Nuova Dante says that " a wonderful vision ap-

peared to me, in which I saw things which made me re-

solve to speak no more of this blessed one,^ until I could

more worthily treat of her. And to attain to this, I study

to the utmost of my power, as she truly knows. So that,

if it shall please Him through whom all things live, that

my life be prolonged for some years, I hope to say of her

what was never said of any woman." This promise to say

of Beatrice what had been said of no other woman Dante

fulfilled in the Divina Commedia, the central figure of

which is Beatrice glorified.

" Several years after the composition of the Vita

Nuova" says Boccaccio, " Dahte, as he looked down from

the high places of the government of the commonwealthof Florence wherein he was stationed, and observed over

a wide prospect, such as is visible from such elevated

places, what was the life of men, and what the errors of

the common herd, and how few, and how greatly worthy

of honour, were those who departed therefrom, and howgreatly deserving of confusion those who sided with it, he,

condemning the pursuits of such as these and commending

'i.e. Beatrice.

13 193

194 DANTE'S WORKS

his own far above theirs, conceived in his mind a lofty

thought, whereby at one and the same time, that is in one

and the same work, he purposed, while giving proof of his

own powers, to pursue with the heaviest penalties the

wicked and vicious, and to honour with the highest rewards

the virtuous and worthy, and to lay up eternal glory for

himself. And inasmuch as he had preferred poetry to

every other pursuit, he resolved to compose a poetical

work ; and after long meditation beforehand upon what

he should write, in his thirty-fifth year he began to devote

himself to carrying into effect that upon which he had

been meditating, namely, to rebuke and to glorify the lives

of men according to their different deserts. And inas-

much as jie perceived that theJ^gg^jj^jm^^^w^rôX three

kinds—namel^"tneÎa^ life, the- ljfe a,bandoning vices

/ and making for virtue, and the virtuous life—he divided

his work [n wonderful wiê, iqt,a three books comprised in

one volume, beginning with the punishment of wickedness

and ending with the reward of virtue ; and he gave to it

the title of Commedia. Each of these three books he

divided into cantos, and the cantos into stanzas. And he

composed this work in rime in the vulgar tongue with so

great art, and with such wondrous and beautiful ordering,

that never yet has any one been able with justice to find

fault with it in any respect. How subtly he exercised the

poet's art in this work may be perceived by all such as

have been endowed with sufficient understanding for the

comprehension of it. But inasmuch as we know that great

things cannot be accomplished in a brief space of time, so

must we understand that so lofty, so great, and so deeply

thought out an undertaking as was this of describing

in verses in the vulgar tongue all the various actions of

mankind and their deserts, could not possibly have beenbrought to completion in a short time, especially by a man

DIVINA COMMEDIA 195

who was the sport of so many and various chances of

fortune, all of them full of anguish and envenomed with

bitterness, as we have seen Dante was ; he, therefore, from

the hour when he first set himself to this lofty enterprise

down to the last day of his life (notwithstanding that

meanwhile he composed several other works) continually

laboured upon it."^

Villani, whose chronicle repeatedly echoes the Corn-

media, gives the following account of the poem :

—

" Dante also wrote the Commedia, in which in polished

rime, treating of grave and subtle questions of moral and

natural philosophy, astrology, and theology, with beauti-

ful and wonderful figures, similes, and poetical devices, he

discoursed in a hundred capitoli or cantos of the nature

and condition of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, in as lofty

a style as language will allow, as may be gathered from

the poem itself by any one who has sufficient understand-

ing. Albeit in the Commedia he took delight in scolding

and crying out, after the fashion of poets, perhaps some-

what more than is altogether seemly ; but maybe his

exile was the cause of this."^

In his letter to Can Grande, in which he dedicates to

him the Paradiso, Uante gives his own explanation of

the subject and aim of the poem, and of the reasons whyhe called it a comedy.

" The subject of this work," he writes, "must be under-

stood as taken according to the letter, and then as inter-

preted according to the allegorical meaning. The subject,

then, of the whole work, taken according to the letter

alone, is simply a consideration of the state of souls after

death ; for from and around this the action of the whole

work turns. But if the work is considered according

' Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 13, pp. 63-4.

« Bk. ix. ch. 136.

196 DANTE'S WORKS

to its allegorical meaning, the subject is man, liable to

the reward or punishment of justice, according as through

the freedom of the will he is deserving or undeserv-

, ing. . . . The aim of the work is to remove those living

in this life from a state of misery and to guide them to a

state of happiness. . . . The title of the book is ' Here

beginneth the Comedy ^ of Dante Alighieri, a Florentine

by birth, but not by character '. And for the comprehen-

sion of this it must be understood that . . . comedy is a

certain kind of poetical narrative which differs from all

others. It differs from tragedy in its subject matter,—in

this way, that tragedy in its beginning is admirable and

quiet, in its ending or catastrophe foul and horrible. . . ,

Comedy, on the other hand, begins with adverse circum-

stances, but its theme has a happy termination. . . . Like-

wise they differ in their style of language, for tr^edy is

lofty and sublime, comedy lowly and humble. . . . From^js it is_eyident why the present work is called a comedy.

For if we consider the theme, in its beginning it is horrible

and foul, because it is Hell; in its ending fortunate, de-

sixable, and joyful, because it is Paradise; and if we con-

sider the style of language, the style is lowly and humble,

because it is the vulgar tongue, in which even housewives

hold converse." ^

^ The title Divina Comtnedia, as appears from this statement, was not

Dante's own. It probably had its origin in Dante's own description of the

poem as " lo sacrato poema " {Par. xxiii. 62) and " il poema sacro " [Par.

XXV. i). It occurs in some of the oldest manuscripts of the poem, and in

Boccaccio's Life ofDante {§ 14). The first printed edition bearing this title

is the Venice one of 1555 ; in a previous edition, with the commentary of

Landino (Florence, 1481), the epithet " divine" is applied to Dante him-

self, but not to the poem ; which, however, had been styled " opus divinis-

simum"bythe Florentine Coluccio Salutati eighty years before (see F.

Novati, Epistolario di Coluccio Salutati, vol. iii. p. 371). In the earliest

printed editions the title is simply " La Coramedia di Dante Alighieri ".

» Trans, by Laiham (with modifications).

DIVINA COMMEDIA 197

The form ofJDante^s poem (or vision, as he claims it to

have been) is triple, the three divisions corresponding

with the three kingdoms of the next world, Hell, Purgatory,

and Paradise. Each division or candca contains thjrtjr-

three cantos (with an introductory one to the first cantica).

The opening cantoj)f_the Inferno forms an introduction

to_ the whole poem, which thus contains a hundred

cantos, the square of the perfect number ten.^ These

contain jn^ all, 14,2^.^ lines, namely, 4,720 in the Inferno,

4,755 in the Purgatorio, and 4,758 in the Paradiso.

Dante places the date of the action of the poem in the

Jubileeyear 1300.^ Thus he describes his vision as having

taken place "midway upon the pathway of our life"

{Inferno, i. i), that is, in his thirty-fifth year, the days of

our life, according to the Psalmist, being " three-score years

and ten," and Dante having been born in 1265,

As regards the duration of the action of the poem there

is considerable difference of opinion. The most probable

estimate, on the whole, seems to be that which puts it at

^vendays. Of these, twenty-four hours would be oc-

fSP^^n traversing Hell (i.e. from nightfall on the even-

ing of Good Friday, 8 April, 1300, until shortly after

sunset on Easter-eve) ; four days in traversing Purgatory

(i.e. one day in Ante-Purgatory, two days in Purgatory

proper, and one day in the Earthly Paradise at the summit

of the mountain of Purgatory) ; and one day in traversing

' Cf. Vita Nuova, § 30, 11. g-io ; Convivio, ii. 15, 11. 30-6.

2 This date has been disputed by some authorities in favour of the year

1301, on the ground that Dante in Purg. i. 19-21 makes Venus a morning

star at Easter, which she was in 1301, whereas actually at Easter in 1300

she was an evening star. This argument, however, has now been dis-

posed of, for it has recently been discovered that in the almanack which

there is every reason to believe Dante made use of, by a curious mistake,

Venus is shown as a morning star at Easter in 1300 (see Boffito e Melzi

d' Eril, Almanack Dantis Aligherii, Florence, igo8, pp. xiv-xv; and

E. Moore, Studies in Dante, iii. 172-5).

198 DANTE'S WORKS

Paradise; the remaining time being occupied by the

passage from Hell to Purgatory, and from Purgatory to

Paradise.*

The dates of the completion of the several parts of the

poem have not been fixed with any certainty, but the

following limitations may be accepted:—The Inferno

must have been completed after 20 April, 13 14, the date

of the death of Pope Clement V, because of the allusion

to that event in the nineteenth canto (11. 76-87) ; and not

later than 13 19, since it is referred to as finished in a Latin

poem addressed to Dante in that year by a Bplognese

professor, Giovanni del Virgilio, as well as in Dante's

poem in reply. ^ The Purgatorio must have been completed

not later than 13 19, since it is alluded to as finished in the

same poems. The Paradiso must have been completed

after 7 August, 13 16, the date of the accession of Pope

John XXII, since that Pope is alluded to in the twenty-

seventh canto (11. 58-59) ; its latest limit is fixed by the

date of Dante's death, 14 September, 1321.

The scheme of the Commedia is briefly as follows :

—

Inferno. The Hell of Dante consists of nine concentric

circles, of which the first and uppermost is co-extensive

with the hemisphere of the Earth, which forms, as it were,

a cover to it. The remaining circles successively diminish

in circumference, forming roughly a sort of immense in-

verted cone or funnel, the lowest point of which is the

centre of the Earth and of the Universe (Inf. xxxii. 73-4

;

Kxxiv. iio-ii). Each of the nine circles is presided over

jy one or more demons or evil spirits, and in each a dis-

tinct class of sinners is punished. Hell, as a whole, may

1 For details of the chronology of the poem, see E. Moore, Time-Refer-

ences in the Divina Commedia (though the conclusions there arrived at

are not by any means universally accepted).

" See below, p. 253.

INFERNO 199

be divided into two principal parts, which comprise four

regions. Of these two parts, the first, in which sins of

incontinence are punished, forming what may be described

as Upper Hell, lies outside the City of Dis, which begins

at the sixth circle; the other, or Lower Hell, in which

sins of malice are punished, is situated within the City

of Dis.

Upper Hell consists of the first five circles, which are

contiguous. These are arranged as follows :—On the

upper confines of the abyss, above the first circle, is a

region which forms, as it were, an Ante-hell, where are

placed those who did neither good nor evil, the neutrals,

who were not "worthy" to enter Hell proper (iii. 16-69).

In the first circle, or Limbo (under the guardianship of

Charon, the ferryman, who conveys the souls of the

damned across the river Acheron), are placed unbaptized

infants, and the good men and women of antiquity ; these

are free from torture (iii. 70-iv. 151). At the entrance to

the second circle (where the lustful are punished) is

stationed Minos, the judge, who assigns to each soul its

station and punishment ; here begin the torments of Hell

(v. 1-142). Circles two to five are appropriated to sins

of incontinence ; viz. gluttony in circle three (presided

over by Cerberus) (vi. i-ii i) ; avarice and prodigality in

circle four (presided over by Pluto or Plutus) (vii. i -66)

;

wrath in circle five (under the guardianship of Phlegyas,

ferryman of Styx) (vii. 100-63). Then come the walls of

the City of Dis, which form the division between Upper

and Lower Hell (viii. 67-ix. 105). Within these walls

(guarded by the Furies) lies the sixth circle, where heretics

are punished (ix. io6-xi. 9). After this circle comes a

deep descent (xii. 10), and the second region is reached,

which contains the three rounds of the seventh circle

(under the guardianship of the Minotaur), appropriated to

200 DANTE'S WORKS

three classes of violence, viz. against God, Nature, or art,

(e.g. blasphemers, sodomites, usurers), against self or one's

possessions (e.g. suicides, spendthrifts), against one's

neighbour or his possessions (e.g. tyrants, murderers, rob-

bers) (xii. ii-xvii. ^8). After a still more precipitous

descent (xvi. 114), comes the third region, comprising the

ten pits of the eighth circle, called Malebolge (under the

guardianship of Geryon), appropriated to ten classes of

fraud, viz. seducers and panders, flatterers, simoniacs,

soothsayers, barrators, hypocrites, thieves and robbers,

evil counsellors, schismatics, and, lastly, falsifiers (com-

prising alchemists, personators, coiners, liars) (xviii. i-xxx.

/1 48) ; these pits lie concentrically one below another on a

slope, like the rows of an amphitheatre, and are divided

from each other by banks, crossed at right-angles by radial

bridges of rock, resembling the transverse gangways of a

,theatre. Below Malebolge is a third abyss (xxxi. 32), at

me bottom of which lies the fourth or frozen region, con-

sisting of an immense lake of ice formed by the frozen

waters of the river Cocytus, and comprising the four di-

visions of the ninth circle (under the guardianship of the

Giants), appropriated to four classes of traitors, and namedrespectively Caina (after Cain), where are those who have

betrayed their kindred ; Antenora (after Antenor of Troy),

where are those who have betrayed their country ; Tolomea

(after Ptolemy of Jericho), where are those who have be-

trayed their guests and companions ; and Giudecca (after

Judas Iscariot), where are those who have betrayed their

benefactors (xxxi. ii-xxxiv. 69). In the last of these, in

the nethermost pit of Hell, is fixed Lucifer (xxxiv. 20-67).

Down through Hell, from end to end, flows the infernal

stream, under the various names ofAcheron, Styx, Phlege-

thon, and Cocytus.

Purgatorio. Purgatory, the place of purgation and

\

PURGATOKW 201

of preparation for the life of eternal blessedness {Purg.

i. 4-6), according to Dante's conception, consists of an

island-mountain, formed jjv tihn fiartbi"'^'^'^^^ ''filTg''^''^ be-

foreXucifer as he fell from,

Heay.eiiiat&-tfaeab¥SfcofJBEell{Inf. xxxiv. 122-6). This mountain, which has the form of

an immense truncated cone, rises out of the ocean in the

centre of the southern hemisphere, where, according to

the Ptolemaic system of cosnjography followed by Dante,

there was nothing (except of course, in Dante's view, the

mountain of Purgatory) save a vast expanse of water.

The mountain is the exact antipodes of Jerusalem {Purg.

ii. 3 ; iv. 68 ; xxvii. 2), the central point of the northern

hemisphere {Inf. xxxiv. 1 14) where Christ suffered for the

sin of Adam {Purg. xxvii. 2), committed in the Garden of

Eden (i.e. the Terrestrial Paradise at the summit of the

mountain). The lower part of the mountain is not a de-

partment of Purgatory proper, but forms an Ante-purga-

tory, where are located the spirits of those who died without

having availed themselves of the means of penitence of-

fered by the Church. These are divided into four classes,

viz. those who died in contumacy of the Church, and only

repented at the last moment ; those who in indolence and

indifference put off their repentance until just before their

death ; those who died a violent death, without absolution,

but repented at the last moment ; and, lastly, kings and

princes who deferred their repentance owing to the pres-

sure of temporal interests, these last being placed in a

valley full of flowers {Purg. ii. i-viii, 139). Purgatory

proper, which is entered by a gate guarded by an angel,

consists of seven concentric terraces, each about seventeen

feet wide (x. 22-4 ; xiii. 4-5), which rise in succession with

diminished circuit (xiii. 4-6) as they approach the summit,

where is situated the Terrestrial Paradise. The ascent to

the gate of Purgatory is by three steps of diverse colours.

202 DANTE'S WORKS

the first being of polished white marble ; the second of

rock, almost black, rough and burnt as with fire, and

marked across its length and breadth, in the shape of a

cross ; the third and topmost of porphyry of a bright

blood-red colour.^ The threshold of the gate, whereon is

seated the guardian angel, is of adamantine rock (ix. "jG-

105). The terraces within the gate are connected by

steep and narrow stairways, the steps of which become

successively less steep as each terrace is surmounted.

Each of the seven terraces or circles corresponds to one of

the seven deadly sins, from the traces of which the soul

is there purged. The seven terraces, together with Ante-

purgatoty and the Terrestrial Paradise, fiorxn iM«e«dM§rorisi~

thus corresponding to the nine circles of Hell, and thenWSpheres of Paradise.

At the foot of the mountain is stationed Cato of Utica

as guardian (i. 31); at the entrance to Purgatory proper,

and at the approach to each of the terraces, stands an

angel, who chants one of the Beatitudes to comfort those

who are purging them of their sins. In the first circle,

where the sin of pride is purged, the angel of humil-

ity sings -5£«^//a?<!/er«i' j/z'n'/?/; (xii. no). In the second

circle, where the sin of envy is purged, the angel of

charity sings Beati misericordes (xv. 38). In the third

circle, where the sin of wrath is purged, the angel of peace

sings Beatipacifici (xvii. 68). In the fourth circle, where

the sin of sloth is purged, the angel of the love of Godsings Beati qui lugent (xix. 50). In the fifth circle, where

the sin of avarice is purged, the angel of justice sings

' These three steps are symbolical of the state of mind with which pen-

ance is to be approached, and denote respectively, according to the inter-

pretation of Maria Rossetti, " candid confession, mirroring the whole man;

mournful contrition, breaking the hard heart of the gazer on the Cross

;

love, all aflame, offering up in satisfaction the life-blood of body, soul, andspirit" {Shadow of Dante, p. 112).

PURGATORIU 203

Beati qui sitiunt justitiam (xxii. 5). In the sixth

circle, where the sin of gluttony is purged, the angel of

abstinence sings Beati qui esuriuntjustitiam {yi'xw. iSl)-

In the seventh circle, where the sin of lust is purged, the

angel of purity sings Beati mundo corde (xxvii. 8). Thesystem of purgation is explained by Dante as follows :

—

Love exists in every creature, and as, if rightly directed, it

is the spring of every good action, so, if ill directed, it is the

spring of every evil action ; love may err through a bad

object (thus giving birth to pride, envy, anger), through

defect of vigour in pursuit of good (thus giving birth to

sloth), through excess of vigour in the same (thus giving

birth to avarice, gluttony, lust), '^[he manner of purgation

is Jjlyselbid^. consisting in, firstly, a material punishment()

intended to mortify the eyil passions and incite to virtue ; i

secondly, a subject for jmeditation, bearing on the sin

purged, and its opposite virtue, with examples of persons

conspicuous for the one or the other drawn from sacred

and profane history; tljirdly, a prayer, whereby the soul

is purified and strengthened in the grace of God.^

In the Terrestrial Paradise are two streams, which both

issue from one source, Lethe and Eunoe, the former

of which washes away the remembrance jof sin, while the

latter strengthens the remembrance of gmd deeds (xxviii.

121-9).""^ '*^'*

Paradiso. According to Dante's conception, which is

based upon the Ptolemaic system, the Universe consists

of nine spheres or Heavens, concentric with the Earth,

round, which they revolve, it being fixed at the centre

{Convivio, iii. 5, IT. 57-8)." The Earth is surrounded by

the spheres of air and fire, the latter being in immediate

contact with that of the Moon {Purg. xviii. 28 ; Par. i.

iPor an excellent account of Dante's Purgatory, see P. Perez,

/ setti cerchi del Purgatorio (Verona, 1867).

204 DANTE'S WORKS

115 ; Conv. iii. 3, 11. 11-13), which is the lowest of the nine

Heavens. Beyond the Heaven of the Moon come in order

those of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,

the Fixed Stars, and last of all that of the Primum Mobile

or First Movement. Each of these Heavens revolves with

a velocity which increases in proportion to its distance

from the Earth. Each of the planets revolves in the

epicycle^ of its own Heaven, except the Sun, which re-

volves round the Earth. The Primum Mobile (or Crystal-

line Heaven) governs the general motion of the Heavens

from East to West, and by it all place and time are ulti-

mately measured {Par. xxvii. 115-20; xxviii. 70-1 ; Conv.

ii. 6, 11. I4S-7; ii. 15, 11. 12-13).

Each of the Heavens is presided over by one of the

Angelic Orders, and exercises its special influence on

earthly affairs {Par. ii. 127-9; Conv. ii. 2, 11. 62-3; ii. 5,

11. 21-4; ii. 6, 11. 105-16.) The three lowest Heavens are

allotted to the souls of those whose life on Earth was

rendered imperfect through their having yielded to the

temptations of the world. The next four are allotted to the

souls of those whose actions were wholly directed by virtu-

ous motives. The last two Heavens have no special occu-

pants assigned to them, but serve apparently as commonplaces of meeting, the one to the blessed spirits, the other

to Angels. Finally, beyond and outside of all the other

Heavens lies the Empyrean, an incorporeal and motion-

less Heaven, where is neither time nor place, butli^hl

only (Par. xxvii. 106-20; xxx. 39); this is the special

abode of the Deity and resting-place of the Saints {Conv.

ii. 4, 11. 28-30). The latter, arranged in the form of the

1 An epicycle is a small circle whose centre is on the circumference of

a larger circle, along which it travels. In the solar system the path of

the Moon about the Earth forms an epicycle in respect of the orbit of the

Earth around the Sun.

PARADISO 20S

petals of a white Rose, gaze upon the beatific vision of

the Deity, who is surrounded by the nine orders of the

three Angelic Hierarchies.

Each of the first seven spheres or Heavens is represen-

tative of, and corresponds to, one of tljfiUS^SIlJSsikSSii,

ArtSj the other three corresponding to Natural, Moral and

Divine Science (orJCJ»22'°Sy) respectively {Conv. ii. 14, 11.

48-64). The general scheme of Dante's Paradise is as

follows :—The first Heaven, that oftj^jyloou, which is

presided over by Angels, and is representative of

Grammar, is tenanted by the spirits of those who failed to

keep their holy vows {Par. ii. 34-v. 84). The second

Heaven, that of Me^ijof, which is presided over by Arch-

angels, and is representative of Logic, is tenanted by the

spirits of those who for the love of fame wrought great

deeds upon Earth (v. 8s-vii.). The third Heaven, that of

'\^gjl}S» which is presided over by Principal||}es, and is re-

presentative of Rhetorigj is tenanted by the spirits of those

who upon Earth were lovers (viii-ix.). The fourth Heaven,

that of the Sun, which is presided over by Powers, and is

representative of Arithmetic, is tenanted by the spirits of

those who loved wisdonr(x.-xiv. 78). The fifth Heaven,

that of Mars, which is presided over by Vjxtues, and is

representative of Music, is tenanted by the spirits of those

who fought for""the"Taith (xiv. 79-xviii. 51). The sixth

Heaven, that ofJupiter, which is presided over by Do-minions, and is representative of Geometry, is, tenanted by

the spirits of those who loved,jjisjjsp (xviii. 52-xx.). Theseventh Heaven, that of Saturn, which is presided over

by Thrones, and is representative of Astrology, is tenanted

by the spirits of those who lived in contemplation of holy

things (xxi.-xxii. 99). The eighth Heaven, that of the

Fijced Stars, is presided over by Cherubim, and is repre-

sentative of Natural Science (xxii. loo-xxvii. 87). The

2o6 DANTE'S WORKS

ninth Heaven, that of the Primum Mobile, or the Crystal-

h"ne Heaven, is presided over by Seraphim, and is

representative of Moral Science (xxvii. 88-xxix.). The

tenth Heaven, that of the Empyrean, is representative of

Divine Science, and is the abode of the Deity and of the

Spirits of the Blessed. The latter, as already mentioned,

are arranged in the petals of a vast white Rose, which, ac-

cording to Dante's description, resembles ^a kind of

amphitheatre, the centre being formed of a sea of light.

On the highest tier, at the point where the light is most

dazzling, is seated the Virgin Mary. Next below Marysits Eve, and below Eve, on the third tier, sits Rachel,

with Beatrice at her side ; and on successive tiers below

them are Sarah, Rebekah, Judith, Ruth, and other Hebrewwomen. On the opposite side, facing Mary, on the same

tier, is seated St. John the Baptist, below whom on suc-

cessive tiers are St. Francis, St. Benedict, St. Augustine,

and others. These two lines (from Mary downwards on

one side, and from the Baptist downwards on the other)

form, as it were, a wall, which divides the Rose into two

parts. In one part are the seats (all filled) of those whobelieved in Christ to come (i.e. those who lived under the

Old Testament dispensation) ; in the other are the seats

(only partially filled) of those who believed in Christ

already come (i.e. those who lived under the New Testa-

ment dispensation), and who, when all the seats are filled,

will be equal in number to those on the opposite side.

The lowest tiers are filled by infants, who were saved, not

by their own merits, but through baptism by the merit of

Christ (xxx.-xxxiii.).

Boccaccio tells a story of how at Dante's death the

last thirteen cantos of the Paradiso were not to be

found, so that it was supposed that he had left his great

work unfinished, until the whereabouts of the missing

STORY OF MISSING CANTOS OF D.C. 207

cantos was miraculously revealed to his son, Jacopo, in a

vision :

—

" The friends Dante left behind him, his sons and his

disciples, having searched at many times and for several

months everything of his writing, to see whether he had

left any conclusion to his work, could in nowise find any

of the remaining cantos ; his friends generally being muchmortified that God had not at least lent him so long to

the world, that he might have been able to complete the

small remaining part of his work ; and having sought so

long and never found it, they remained in despair.

Jacopo and Piero were sons of Dante, and each of thembeing a rhymer, they were induced by the persuasions of

their friends to endeavour to complete, as far as they were

able, their father's work, in order that it should not remain

imperfect ; when to Jacopo, who was more eager about it

than his brother, there appeared a wonderful vision, which

not only induced him to abandon such presumptuous

folly, but showed him where the thirteen cantos were

which were wanting to the Divina Commedia, and which

they had not been able to find.

"A worthy man of Ravenna, whose name was Pier

Giardino, and who had long been Dante's disciple, grave

in his manner and worthy of credit, relates that after the

eighth month from the day of his master's death, there

came to his house before dawn Jacopo di Dante, who told

him that that night, while he was asleep, his father Dante

had appeared to him, clothed in the purest white, and his

face resplendent with an extraordinary light ; that he,

Jacopo, asked him if he lived, and that Dante replied

:

' Yes, but in the true life, not our life '. Then he, Jacopo,

asked him if he had completed his work before passing

into the true life, and, if he had done so, what had become

of that part of it which was missing, which they none of

2o8 DANTE'S WORKS

them had been able to find. To this Dante seemed to

answer :' Yes, I finished it

'; and then took him, Jacopo,

by the hand, and led him into that chamber in which he,

Dante, had been accustomed to sleep when he lived in

this life, and, touching one of the walls, he said :' What

you have sought for so much is here'

; and at these words

both Dante and sleep fled from Jacopo at once. For

which reason Jacopo said he could not rest without com-

ing to explain what he had seen to Pier Giardino, in order

that they should go together and search out the place thus

pointed out to him, which he retained excellently in his

memory, and to see whether this had been pointed out by

a true spirit, or a false delusion . For which purpose, though

it was still far in the night, they set off together, and

went to the house in which Dante resided at the time of

his death. Having called up its present owner, he ad-

mitted them, and they went to the place thus pointed out

;

there they found a mat fixed to the wall, as they had al-

ways been used to see it in past days ; they lifted it gently

up, when they found a little window in the wall, never

before seen by any of them, nor did they even know that

it was there. In it they found several writings, all mouldyfrom the dampness of the walls, and had they remained

there longer, in a little while they would have crumbled

away. Having thoroughly cleared away the mould, they

found them to be the thirteen cantos that had been want-

ing to complete the CommediaP ^

The missing cantos, adds Boccaccio, were at once sent

to Can Grande della Scala, to whom Dante had been in

the habit of sending every few cantos of his poem, as he

finished them, in order that Can Grande might see thembefore they were submitted to any one else.

' Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 14, pp. 68-70 (trans, by Bun-bury).

STORY OF FIRST SEVEN CANTOS OF D.C. 209

Boccaccio is responsible for another interesting anecdote ^

about the Commedia, which, if we are to accept it as

authentic, shows how the Florentines, by exiling Dante,

were very near depriving the world of one of its most pre-

cious treasures.

" It should be known," he says, " that Dante had a sis-

ter, who was married to one of our citizens, called LeonPoggi, by whom she had several children. Among these

was one called Andrea, who wonderfully resembled Dante

in the outline of his features, and in his height and figure

;

and he also walked rather stooping, as Dante is said to

have done. He was a weak man, but with naturally good

feelings, and his language and conduct were regular and

praiseworthy. And I having become intimate with him,

he often spoke to me of Dante's habits and ways; but

among those things which I delight most in recollecting,

is what he told me relating to that of which we are nowspeaking. He said then, that Dante belonged to the

party of Messer Vieri de' Cerchi, and was one of its great

leaders ; and when Messer Vieri and many of his followers

left Florence, Dante left that city also and went to Verona.

And on account of this departure, through the solicitation

of the opposite party, Messer Vieri and all who had left

Florence, especially the principal persons, were considered

as rebels, and had their persons condemned, and their pro-

perty confiscated. When the people heard this, they ran to

the houses of those proscribed, and plundered all that was

within them. It is true that Dante's wife. Madonna

Gemma, fearing this, by the advice of some of her friends

1 This story is given both in the Vita di Dante and in the Comento ; in the

latter {Lezione 33) the name of Boccaccio's informant is given, not as

Pier Giardino, but as Ser Dino Perini of Florence, who is supposed to be

the individual who figures in Dante's Latin Eclogues under the name of

Meliboeus (see below, p. 254).

14

210 DANTE'S WORKS

and relations, had withdrawn from his house some chests

containing certain precious things, and Dante's writings

along with them, and had put them in a place of safety.

And not satisfied with having plundered the houses of the

proscribed, the most powerful partisans of the opposite

faction occupied their possessions,—some taking one and

some another,—and thus Dante's house was occupied.

" But after five years or more had elapsed, and the city

was more rationally governed, it is said, than it was when

Dante was sentenced, persons began to question their

rights, on different grounds, to what had been the property

of the exiles, and they were heard. Therefore MadonnaGemma was advised to demand back Dante's property, on

the ground that it was her dowry. She, to prepare this

business, required certain writings and documents which

were in one of the chests, which, in the violent plunder of

effects, she had sent away, nor had she ever since removed

them from the place where she had deposited them. For

this purpose, this Andrea said, she had sent for him, and,

as Dante's nephew, had entrusted him with the keys of

these chests, and had sent him with a lawyer to search for

the required papers ; while the lawyer searched for these, he,

Andrea, among other of Dante's writings, found manysonnets, canzoni, and such similar pieces. But amongthem what pleased him the most was a sheet in which, in

Dante's handwriting, the seven first cantos of the Com-media were written ; and therefore he took it and carried

it off with him, and read it over and over again ; and al-

though he understood but little of it, still it appeared to

him a very fine thing; and therefore he determined, in

order to know what it was, to carry it to an esteemed manof our city, who in those times was a much celebrated re-

citer of verses, whose name was Dino, the son of MesserLambertuccio Frescobaldi.

STORY OF FIRST SEVEN CANTOS OF Z^.C. 211

" It pleased Dino marvellously; and having madecopies of it for several of his friends, and knowing that the

composition was merely begun, and not completed, he

thought that it would be best to send it to Dante, and at

the same time to beg him to follow up his design, and to

finish it. And having inquired, and ascertained that Dante

was at this time in the Lunigiana, with a noble man of the

name of Malaspina, called the Marquis Moroello, who was

a man of understanding, and who had a singular friend-

ship for him, he thought of sending it, not to Dante himself,

but to the Marquis, in order that he should show it to him :

and so Dino did, begging him that, as far as it lay in his

power, he would exert his good offices to induce Dante to

continue and finish his work.

"The seven aforesaid cantos having reached the

Marquis's hands, and having marvellously pleased him, he

showed them to Dante ; and having heard from him that

they were his composition, he entreated him to continue

the work. To this it is said that Dante answered :' I

really supposed that these, along with many of my other

writings and effects, were lost when my house was plundered,

and therefore I had given up all thoughts of them. But since

it has pleased God that they should not be lost, and He has

thus restored them to me, I shall endeavour, as far as I

am able, to proceed with them according to my first

design.' And recalling his old thoughts, and resuming

his interrupted work, he speaks thus in the beginning of

the eighth canto : 'My wondrous history I here renew '." ^

The question cis to why Dante, a man of great learning,

chose to write the Commedia in Italian, instead of in Latin,

exercised the minds ofmany wise men of his day, Boccaccio

tells us. His own opinion on the subject he gives as

follows :

—

• Comento, ii. 129-32 (trans, by Bunbury) ; cf. Vita di Dante, ed. cit.

§ 14. PP 65-7.

212 DANTE'S WORKS

" In reply to this question," he says, "two chief reasons,

amongst many others, come to my mind. The first of

which is, to be of more general use to his fellow-citizens

and other Italians ; for he knew that if he had written

metrically in Latin as the other poets of past times had

done, he would only have done service to men of letters,

whereas, writing in the vernacular, he did a deed ne'er

done before, and there was no bar in any incapacity of the

men of letters to understand him ; and by showing the

beauty of our idiom and his own excelling art therein, he

gave delight and understanding of himself to the unlearned

who had hitherto been abandoned of every one. Thesecond reason which moved him thereto was this. See-

ing that liberal studies were utterly abandoned, and

especially by princes and other great men, to whom poetic

toils were wont to be dedicated, wherefore the divine works

of Virgil and the other illustrious poets had not only sunk

into small esteem, but were well-nigh despised by the most

;

having himselfbegun, according as the loftiness ofthe matter

demanded, after this guise

—

' Ultima regna canam, fluido contermina mundo,Spiritibus quae lata patent, quae praemia solvunt

Pro mentis cuicumque suis,' etc.,'

he left it there ; for he conceived it was a vain thing to put

crusts of bread into the mouths of such as were still sucking

milk ; wherefore he began his work again in style suited

to modern senses, and followed it up in the vernacular." ^

The skill exhibited by Dante in the management of the

rhymes in his poem, which consists of considerably over

1 " The furthest realms I sing, conterminous with the flowing universe,

stretching afar for spirits, paying the rewards to each after his merits,"

etc.

2 Vita di Dante, ed. cit. § 15, pp. 71-2 (trans, by Wicksteed). Thisinformation was obviously derived by Boccaccio from a passage in thesuspect) letter of Frate Ilario (see above, p. 92 note).

DANTE AND HIS RHYMES 213

fourteen thousand lines, is very remarkable. According

to the author of the commentary known as the Ottimo

Comento, who was a contemporary of Dante, the poet

boasted that he had never been trammelled in his com-

position by the exigencies of rhyme. " I, the writer,"

says the commentator, "heard Dante say that never a

rhyme had led him to say other than he would, but that

many a time and oft he had made words say in his rhymes

what they were not wont to express for other poets."

Another commentator, Benvenuto da Imola, in connec-

tion with Dante's extraordinary facility in the matter of

rhymes, repeats a quaint conceit, which had been imagined,

he says, by an ardent admirer of the poet:—"WhenDante first set about the composition of his poem, all the

rhymes in the Italian language presented themselves before

him in the guise of so many lovely maidens, and each in

turn humbly petitioned to be granted admittance into this

great work of his genius. In answer to their prayers,

Dante called first one and then another, and assigned to

each its appropriate place in the poem ; so that, when at

last the work was complete, it was found that not a single

one had been left out,"

The statistics as to the editions, manuscript and printed,

of the Divina Commedia are interesting. The knownmanuscripts number between five and six hundred,^ giving

an average of about four a year for the 1 50 years between

the date of Dante's death (1321) and that of the first

printed edition (1472). None of these dates earlier than

fourteen or fifteen years after Dante's death, of whose

original manuscript not a trace has yet been discovered.

Of printed editions there are between three and four hun-

dred, giving an average of less than one a year for the 430

' See E. Moore, Contributions to the Textual Criticism of the Divina

Commedia ; and Colomb de Batines, Bibliografia Dantesca (Parte iv.).

214 DANTE'S WORKS

years between the date of the first edition (1472) and the

latest.^ The earliest probably is that printed at Foligno

in 1472, in which year editions appeared also at Mantua

and at Jesi. Two editions were printed at Naples shortly

after, one in 1474, the other in 1477. A Venetian edition

appeared also in 1477; a Milanese in 1477-78; and a

second Venetian in 1478. The first Florentine edition

(with the commentary of Cristoforo Landino) did not

appear until 148 1. At least six other editions were

printed in Italy in the fifteenth century. In the next cent-

ury two editions were printed at the famous Venetian press

of Aldus, one in 1 502 (in which the well-known Aldine an-

chor began to be used for the first time), the other in 15 15.

The first edition printed outside Italy was the counterfeit of

the first Aldine, which appeared at Lyons in 1502 or 1503.

Three other editions were printed in the sixteenth century

at Lyons, viz. in 1547, 1551, and 1571. No other edition

appeared outside Italy for nearly two hundred years, till

1768, when an edition was published at Paris. An edition

with the imprint London, but actually printed at Leghorn,

appeared in 1778. The earliest specimen of any length

of the Italian text of the Commedia printed in England

was a passage of twenty-seven lines—a curiosity of mis-

printing—from the last canto of the Inferno (xxxiv. 28-

54), inserted by Thomas Heywood, the dramatist, in the

seventh book of his Hierarchie ofthe Blessed Angels, which

was published in 1635.^ More than a hundred years later

Giuseppe Baretti printed selections from the sixth canto

of the Inferno, the eighth of the Purgatorio, and the thirty-

third of the Paradiso, in his Italian Library (published in

1 At first sight it might appear as if the popularity of the poem haddecreased 'since the invention of printing ; but it must be borne in mindthat a manuscript " edition " consisted of one copy only, whereas aprinted edition may consist of hundreds or even thousands of copies.

2 See Paget Toynbee, Dante in English Literature, vol. i. pp. 129-30.

ENGLISH EDITIONS OF THE COMMEDIA 215

London in I7S7). Not long afterwards (in 1782) William

Hayley printed the first three cantos of the Inferno, with

a translation in terza rima, in the notes to the third Epistle,

in his Essay on Epic Poetry. This was followed by the

complete text of the Inferno, which accompanied the first

issue of Gary's Hell, published in London in two volumes in

1805-6. Two complete English editions of the Commedia(the first of the whole poem) were printed in London in

1808. The first (perhaps) of these, in three volumes i6mo,

edited by G. B. Boschini, and dedicated to the Ladies

Elizabeth and Emily Percy, daughters of the second Dukeof Northumberland, contained the text only without notes.

The other, in three volumes i2mo, dedicated respectively

to the Countess of Lonsdale, the Countess of Dartmouth,

and Mrs. Pilkington, was edited by Romualdo Zotti, whosupplied notes in Italian, selected and abbreviated from

various Italian commentaries. Two other editions were

printed in London in 18 19; one in three volumes i6mo,

edited by S. E. Petronj ; the other in three volumes lamo,

a reissue, with the notes recast, of Zotti's edition of 1808.

In 1822-23 was published the diminutive edition of the

Commedia, in two volumes 32mo (dated respectively 1823

and 1822), dedicated to the second Earl Spencer, the great

book collector, which forms part of the well-known series

of " Diamond Classics " issued by William Pickering, and

printed by Corrall, this being the first complete edition of

the Commedia issued in England in which no foreigner's

name appears. In 1824 a French translation of the In-

ferno, dedicated to the Princess Augusta, second daughter

of George III, by J. C. Tarver, accompanied by the

Italian text, was printed at Windsor, of which a second

impression, with a reconstructed title-page, was issued in

1826. In 1826-27 John Murray published the first instal-

ment, in two volumes 8vo, of Gabriele Rossetti's famous

2i6 DANTE'S WORKS

Comento Analitico on the Commedia, consisting of the

text of the Inferno, with the commentary. The work, the

first volume of which is dedicated to John Hookham Frere,

and which numbers among its subscribers Brougham, Scott,

Isaac D'Israeli, Henry Hallam, and Samuel Rogers, is an-

nounced on the title-page as being in six volumes, but no

more than the first two ever saw the light. In 1 827 ap-

peared the first English printed edition of the Commedia

complete in one volume. The text, beautifully printed by

the Whittinghams at their Chiswick Press, was edited by

Pietro Cicchetti. The editor claims that this volume,

which is in i2mo, and consists of 610 pages, is the first

single-volume of the Commedia in this small format—a claim which shows that his acquaintance with the biblio-

graphy of the subject was limited, since at least half a dozen

single volume editions in small format were published in

Italy and France during the sixteenth century. In 1839

and 1840 two single-volume editions were published in

Edinburgh in 24mo, neither of which, singularly enough, is

in the British Museum. In 1842-43 was published in

London by Pietro Rolandi, in four volumes 8vo, under the

editorship of Giuseppe Mazzini, Ugo Foscolo's edition of

the Commedia, containing the Italian text and various

illustrative matter, the first instalment of which had been

published by Pickering during Foscolo's lifetime in 1825.

In 1849 the well-known translation of the /«;%r«o by John

A. Carlyle, accompanied by the Italian text, was published

by Chapman and Hall ; and from this date onwards Eng-

lish editions of the Commedia or of one or other of the

divisions of the poem, for the most part accompanied bytranslations, have followed each other fast, the grand total

at the present date amounting to twenty-six, exclusive of

reprints and reimpressions. The most important text of

the Commedia published in England is that included in the

ENGLISH EDITIONS OF THE COMMEDIA 217

volume, known as the Oxford Dante, issued at Oxford in

1894 (second edition, 1897; third edition, 1904), which

contains the whole of the works of Dante.^ Two editions of

the text alone were published in 1900 (one in London,^ the

other at Oxford)^ in commemoration of the six hundredth

anniversary of Dante's journey throi^h the three kingdoms

of the other world. The latest of all are the beautiful

edition, in three volumes {Inferno^ 1902 ; Purgatorio, 1904

;

Paradiso, 1905), printed at the Ashendene Press by C. H.

St. John Hornby ; and the sumptuous reprint, in one large

folio volume, of the text of the Oxford Dante (comprising

the whole works) issued from the same press in 1909.*

The Commedia has been translated, in whole or in part,

into almost every known literary language. Besides Eng-

lish, there are versions of the whole poem in Bohemian,

Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hun-

garian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Roumanian, Russian,

Spanish, Swedish, and Welsh. The Inferno has been ren-

dered into Hebrew; and various selections into Armenian,

Basque, Icelandic, Norwegian, Sanskrit, and even Volapiik.

Versions in French, Spanish, and Catalan were already in

existence in the fifteenth century, and a Latin translation

was made as early as the fourteenth century, in 1381 as is

supposed. The first German translation of the Commedia

did not appear until the eighteenth century, in 1767-69,

1 Tutte U opere di Dante Alighieri, nuovamente rivedute nel testo dal

Dr. E. Moore; con Indice del Nomi Propri e delle Cose Notabili compilato

da Paget Toynbee (Clarendon Press).

* La Commedia di Dante Alighieri. II testo Wittiano riveduto da

Paget Toynbee (' Per il sesto centenario del viaggio di Dante MCCC. . . MDCCCC ' (Methuen and Co.).

^La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri nuovamente riveduta nel

testo dal Dr. E. Moore, con indice dei nomi propri compilato da Paget

Toynbee (Clarendon Press).

* See Paget Toynbee, The Earliest Editions of the Divina Commedia

printed in England, in Athenaum, 2 Jan. 1904.

21

8

DANTE'S WORKS

several years after the completion of the earliest English

version.

Renderings of detached passages from the Commedia

occur in English literature within sixty years or so of

Dante's death, in the works of Chaucer, who introduces a

translation of St. Bernard's prayer to the Virgin, from the

thirty-third canto of the Paradiso, in the Prologue to the

Second Nun's Tale ; and in the Monk's Tale a rendering

of the story of Ugolino, from the thirty-third canto of the

Inferno ; besides shorter passages in others of the Tales, and

in Troilus and Cressida, the Legend of Good Women, and

elsewhere.i With the exception of a few lines by Sir John

Harington and Milton, the first English translation from

the Commedia, other than mere incidental renderings, was

the version of the Ugolino episode, published by Jonathan

Richardson, the artist, in 17 19 in hxs Discourse on the Dig-

nity, Certainty, Pleasure and Advantage of the Science ofa

Connoisseur. The same piece was translated by the poet

Gray some twenty years later ; and five more versions of it

appeared before the end of the eighteenth century. Theearliest recorded English translation of the whole poemwas one by William Huggins, the translator of Ariosto,

who at his death in 1761 left the work in manuscript, with

directions that it should be printed and published, which,

however, was never done. About the same time Dr.

Burney made a translation of the Inferno, which likewise

never saw the light. In 1782 William Hayley published

his terza rima translation of the first three cantos of the

Inferno mentioned above.^ In the same year appeared

the first complete English translation (that is, the first pub-

lished translation) of the Inferno. This was by Charles

Rogers, in blank verse. Rogers' version was followed in

iSee Paget Toynbee, Dante in English Literature, vol, i. pp. i ff.

2 See above, p. 215.

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF COMMEDIA 219

1785 by a rendering, in six-line stanzas, by Henry Boyd,

who seventeen years later, in 1 802, published a translation

of the whole of the Commedia in the same metre—the

first complete English version to see the light.^ In 1805

Gary published the iirst instalment of his famous blank

verse translation, consisting of the first seventeen cantos

of the Inferno, the other seventeen cantos being published

in the following year, A fourth translation of the Inferno,

in blank verse, by Nathaniel Howard, appeared in 1807;

and a fifth, also in blank verse, by Joseph Hume, in 1812.

In 1 814 was published the first edition of Gary's transla-

tion of the whole ofthe Commedia, of which a second edi-

tion was issued in 1819, and a third in 1831. In 1833

Ichabod Charles Wright published a translation of the

Inferno, in bastard terza rima, which was followed by the

Purgatorio in 1836, and the Paradiso in 1840, in the same

metre. In 1844 appeared the fourth, and last edition

corrected by himself, of Gary's translation. Since that

date twenty other English translations of the Com-media have been published. Of these, nine are in terza

rima, four in blank verse, five in prose, one in heroic coup-

lets, and one in nine-line stanzas. There have been,

besides, eighteen independent translations of the Inferno

alone, of which eight are in terza rima, five in blank verse,

three in prose, one in rhymed quatrains, and one in Spen-

serian stanzas. Also there have been six independent

translations of the Purgatorio, three in prose, one in Mar-

vellian stanzas, one in octosyllabic terza rima, and one in

blank verse ; and one independent translation, in prose, of

the Paradiso. Reckoning the totals for each cantica of the

poem, this gives in all forty-four English translations of the

Inferno, twenty-nine of the Purgatorio, and twenty-four of

' See Paget Toynbee, English Translations of Dante in the Eighteenth

Century, in Modern Language Review, vol. i. pp. 9-24,

220 DANTE'S WORKS

the Paradiso. A classification of these according to metre

gives, for the Inferno, seventeen in terza rima, twelve in

blank verse, eight in prose, and seven in what, for con-

venience, may be called experimental metres ;^ for the

Purgatorio, ten in terza rima, eight in prose, five in blank

verse, and six in experimental metres f for the Paradiso,

nine in terza rima, six in prose, five in blank verse, and

four in experimental metres.'

From these figures it appears that during the last cen-

tury and a quarter the Commedia has been translated

into English on an average once in about every five years.

If the independent translations of the several divisions

of the poem be included in the reckoning, it will be found

that an English translation of one or other of the three

cantiche has been produced on an average once in about

every sixteen months of the same period.

Next after the Ugolino episode, from the thirty-third

canto of the Inferno, of which there are altogether more

than seventy English versions, the two most popular pas-

sages of the Commedia with English translators have been

the episode of Francesca da Rimini, from the fifth canto of

the Inferno, and the first two terzine of the eighth canto of

the Purgatorio. Of the Francesca da Rimini episode there

are twenty-three separate versions independent of transla-

tions of the Inferno, of which only one belongs to the

eighteenth century, as against seven of the Ugolino. Themost famous version is that by Lord Byron, in "third

rhyme," to use his own term, which was composed in 1820,

but not published until ten years later. Of the first six lines

of the eighth canto of the Purgatorio, the last line of

'Including bastard terza rima, six-line stanzas, nine-line stanzas,

heroic couplets, and rhymed quatrains.

* Including bastard terza rima, six-line stanzas, nine-line stanzas,

heroic couplets, and Marvellian stanzas.

3 Including bastard terza rima, six-line stanzas, nine-line stanzas,

and heroic couplets.

COMMENTARIES ON THE COMMEDIA 221

vhich is famous in English literature as having inspired

he first line of Gray's Elegy, there are sixteen independ-

int translations. Among these are versions by Peacock

n Headlong Hall (1816) ; by Byron in the third canto of

Don Juan (1821); and by Samuel Rogers in his Italy

1830).

This record ^ constitutes a remarkable tribute on the

)art of the English-speaking ^ races to the transcendent

fenius of Dante. Not as yet, it seems, need Dante fear

" Di perder viver tra coloro

Che questo tempo chiameranno antico," *

IS he expressed it to the spirit of his ancestor Cacciaguida

;ix hundred years ago.

Commentaries on the Commedia began to make their

ippearance in Italy at a very early date. Four at least,

m the Inferno, were written within three or four years of

Dante's death ; viz. one, in Latin, by Graziolo de' Bam-jaglioli (d. before 1 343), Chancellor of Bologna, composedn 1324 (published in 1892 by Antonio Fiammazzo),* of

vhich an Italian translation (published in 1848 by LordVernon) * was made in the fourteenth ceintury * ; one, in

[talian, by Dante's son, Jacopo (d. before 1349), written

1 For details, see Paget Toynbee, Chronological hist of English Trans-

afions from Dante,from Chaucer to the Present Day, in Annual Report

f the Cambridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society for 1906 ; see also English

Translations ofDante's Works, in Bulletin Italien, torn. vi. pp. 285-8 (igo6).

* Translations (three of the Commedia, and one of the Inferno) by

Americans are included in the record.

' Paradiso, xvii. iig-20 :

—

" To be as one forgotten among those

Who shall regard as ancient these our days."

* See Appendix D, where the titles of the printed editions of the early

:ommentaries referred to above are given in extenso.

' See Luigi Rocca, Di alcuni Commenti della Divina Commedia com-

'>osti nei primi vent' anni dopo la morte di Dante. Firenze, i8gi, pp. 43-

jj. The identification of this work as a translation of the commentary of

jraziolo de' Bambaglioli is due to Dr. Moore (see his Studies in Dante,

fol. iii. p. 345 ». 2).

222 DANTE'S WORKS

before 1325 (published by Lord Vernon in 1848),! which

is considered by some to be earlier than that of Graziolo ^

;

one, in Latin, by Guido da Pisa, written probably about

1324 (as yet unpublished) ^ of which a fourteenth century

Italian translation exists (also unpublished)*; and one,

in Italian, by an anonymous author, probably a native of

Siena, written between 1321 and 1337 (published in 1865

by Francesco Selmi).' The first commentary on the

whole of the Commedia was written in Italian between

1323 and 1328 by Jacopo della Lana (d. after 1358), of

Bologna ; this was first printed in the edition of the Corn-

media published at Venice by Vendelin da Spira in 1477,

in which, however, it was erroneously attributed to Ben-

venuto da Imola; it was printed a second time in the

following year in the edition of the Commedia published

by Nidobeato at Milan ; and was reprinted at Milan in

1865, and at Bologna in 1866-7, by Luciano Scarabelli.'

Lana's commentary, of which more than sixty MSS. are

known, was twice translated into Latin in the fourteenth

^ See Appendix D.

^See Rocca, op. cit. pp. 63 ff. Another authority, F. P. Luiso, holds

that the Ckiose printed by Lord Vernon were not written in that shape

by Jacopo di Dante, but are a distorted translation of a Latin original.

He considers, on the other hand, that the Latin Chiose di Dante le quali

fece el figliuolo co le sue niani, preserved in a MS. in the Laurentian library

at Florence, of which he published a portion (on the Purgatorio) at

Florence in 1904, represent the work of Jacopo, and were written probably

in his father's lifetime, and were possibly to some extent inspired by the

poet himself. See, however, an article by M. Barbi in Bullettino della

Society Dantesca Italiana, N.S. xi. pp. 195-229 {1904).

^ See Moore, Studies in Dante, vol. iii. pp. 349, 357, 363.^ See Colomb de Batines, Bibliograjia Dantesca, vol. ii. p. 300.

^See Appendix D. Some authorities, including Selmi, think that

this commentary was written in Dante's lifetime, before 1320 ; Rocca,

however, shows (op. cit. pp. 109-10, 117), that it must have been written

later than 1321, the date of Dante's death, and before 1337.^ See Appendix D.


century, the author of one of these versions being Alberico

da Rosciate (d. 1354), a celebrated lawyer of Bergamo.^

Eight more commentaries belong to the fourteenth cen-

tury ; viz. that known as the Ottimo Comento, written in

Italian by Andrea Lancia {c. i2giy-c. 1360), a Florentine

notary, about 1334^ (published in 1827-9 by Alessandro

Torri) ' ; the Latin commentary of Dante's son, Pietro

(d. 1364), written in 1 340-1, which exists in two different

forms,* only one of which has been published (by Lord

Vernon in 1845) ' ; that written in Latin by an unknownmonk of Monte Cassino not earlier than 1350 (published

in 1865)^; the unfinished commentary in Italian on the

Inferno, comprising the first sixteen cantos and part of the

seventeenth, written by Boccaccio (1313-1375) for the

purpose of his public lectures on Dante in Florence be-

tween 1373 and 1375 ^ (first published in 1724 by Lorenzo

Ciccarelli) ^ ; the Latin commentary (of which a fourteenth

century Italian version exists in MS.) ^ composed between

1373 and 1380 by Benvenuto da Imola {c. 1338- 1390),

part of which he delivered as public lecturer on Dante at

Bologna in 1375 ^ (published in 1887 by William Warren

Vernon, under the editorship of G. F. Lacaita) ^ ; the

Italian commentary, formerly attributed to Boccaccio,

composed in 1375 (published in 1846 by Lord Vernon) ^

;

that in Italian by Francesco da Buti (1324-1406), of which

'See Rocca, op. cit., pp. 127-227. ''See Rocca, of. cit. pp. 228-342.

' See Appendix D. '' See Rocca, op. cit. pp. 343-407.

5 See Paget Toynbee, Boccaccio's Commentary on the Divina Corn-

media, in Modern Language Review, vol. ii. pp. 97-120.

" See Batines, op. cit. vol. iii. p. 315.

' See Paget Toynbee, Benvenuto da Imola and his Commentary on the

Divina Commedia, in Dante Studies and Researches, pp. 216-37. M.Barbi has recently shown that the Latin commentary which passes under

the name of Stefano Talice da Ricaldone is little more than a transcription

of Benvenuto's lectures at Bologna. See Bullettino delta Societa Dantesca

Italiana, N.S. xv. pp. 213-36 (1908).

224 DANTE'S WORKS

the first draft appears to have been completed in 1385,

and which was finally completed in 139S/ composed for

delivery as public lectures at Pisa (published in 1858-62

by Crescentino Giannini)^; and the commentary in

Italian, written at the end of the fourteenth or beginning

of the fifteenth century^ by an unknown Florentine

(commonly referred to as " Anonimo Fiorentino ") (pub>-

lished in 1866-74 by Pietro Fanfani).^

To the beginning of the fifteenth century belongs the

Latin commentary written by Giovanni dei Bertoldi

{c. 1350-1445), commonly known as Giovanni da Serravalle,

Bishop of Fermo, which was composed between February

1416 and January 141 7. This commentary* (published

' The reading of the date of the completion of the commentary in the

colophon at the end of the Paradiso is uncertain; but at any rate the

work was not completed before 1393, for in the comment on Paradiso, vi.

1-9, Buti gives a list of Emperors, which he concludes with these words

:

" lo centesimo tredecimo e ora Vinceslao re di Boemia . . . lo quale non

e anco coronato, benche corra 1393 dalla incarnazione"-

^^se Appendix V).

^ The MS. from which Fanfani, the editor, printed the commentary

professes to have been written in 1343, but this date, which appears to

have been added by a later hand, is obviously incorrect, for the author

borrows freely from Boccaccio's commentary, which was not begun till

thirty years afterwards.

* A copy of this commentary was presented in 1443 by Humphrey, Duke

of Gloucester, to the University of Oxford, where it was seen in the public

library a hundred years later by John Leland, the antiquary, during his

tour through England in 1536-42. The commentary was accompanied by

a prose translation of the Commedia in Latin (begun in January 1416 and

completed in May of the same year). It was probably a MS. of this

translation which was seen by Leland in the Cathedral library at Wells

(founded and endowed by Bishop Bubwith) during the tour above-mentioned

(see G. L. Hamilton's notes on Serravalle in Annual Report of the Cam-bridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society, 1902 ; and Paget Toynbee, Dante in Eng-lish Literature, vol. i. pp. xviii. 21-2, 29-30). Only three complete MSS.of Serravalle's work are known ; one of these is in the Vatican, another in

the British Museum, and a third in the Escorial (see A. Farinelli, Dante in

Ispagna, p. 70 n).


at Prato in 1891) " has a special interest for Englishmen

as having been written (during the Council of Constance,

1414-1418) at the instigation of two English Bishops,

Nicholas Bubwith, of Bath and Wells, and Robert Hallam,

of Salisbury, by one who had himself been in England,^

and who made, for the first time, the explicit statement

that Dante visited this country and studied at Oxford—

'

a statement (unhappily not otherwise authenticated)

prompted probably by a desire to please his English col-

leagues, one ofwhom, Hallam, had been Chancellor of the

University of Oxford.* Three other commentaries belong

to this century, one, on the Inferno only, by Guiniforto

delli Bargigi (1406-f. 1460), of Pavia, written about 1440

(published in 1838 by G. Zacheroni)*; another, in Latin,

by Stefano Talice da Ricaldone (d. c. 1520), written in

1474, and supposed at one time to have been delivered as

lectures at Saluzzo,^ but now regarded as a more or less

faithful transcription of Benvenuto da Imola's lectures

at Bologna' (privately printed, by order of the King

of Italy, at Turin in 1886; published in 1888 at Milan

under the editorship of V. Promis and C. Negroni) ^

;

and the third, in Italian, written in 1480 by Cristoforo

Landino (1434-1504), of Florence, which first saw the

light in the celebrated first Florentine edition of the

' See Appendix D.2 In his comment on Inferno, xx. 126, he says he passed through the

Straits of Gibraltar " quando redibam de regno Anglie "-

3 See above, p. 93. * From 1403 to 1405.

^ See Appendix D. Zacheroni unfortunately did not print Guiniforto's

work in full, all the theological portions of the commentary being

omitted.

^ See vol. i. pp. xiii, xvi, of the Milan edition (1888) of the com-

mentary.' See the article by M. Barbi referred to above (p. 223 n. 7), and also

Rocca, op. cit. p. 137.

15

226 DANTE'S WORKS

Commedia (published in 1481),^ and has many times been

reprinted.^

In the sixteenth century the only commentaries of im-

portance were those (in Italian), of Alessandro Vellutello

{c. isi9-<?. 1S90), of Lucca, first published at Venice in

1544,' and three times reprinted*; of Giovan Battista

Gelli (1498-1563), of Florence, whose lectures on the

Commedia before the Florentine Academy (delivered at

various times between 1541 and 1563) were successively

printed at Florence in a series of issues between 1 547 and

1561,^ and have recently (1887) been collected and pub-

lished by C. Negroni * ; and of Bernardino Daniello (d.

c. 1560), of Lucca, whose commentary was printed at

Venice in 1568,' and has not been reprinted.

In the seventeenth century, during which only three

editions of the Commedia were printed in Italy/ as

against some forty in the previous century, the interest in

Dante was at its lowest ebb. It is not surprising, con-

sequently, that during this period no commentaries on

1 See Appendix D, This edition, a copy of which was sold recently for

;f1000, was illustrated with plates from designs by Botticelli.

^No less than fifteen times in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, viz.

at Brescia in 1487, and at Venice in 1484, 1491 (two editions), 1493, 1497,

1507. 15121 1516, 1520, 1529, 1536, 1564, 1578, 1596 (the commentary of

Vellutello being printed with it in the last three editions).

^ See Appendix D.

' At Venice, in the so-called " edizioni del naso"(from the big-nosed

portrait of Dante), in 1564, 1578, 1596.

^See Batines, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 655-60.

^See Appendix D. It appears from a remark of Gelli that his con-

temporary Pier Francesco GiambuUari (1495-1555), who published in 1544a work De'l sito,forma, e misure dello inferno di Dante, also wrote a com-mentary on part of the Commedia. In his Lettura Terza, Lezione Prima,Gelli quotes GiambuUari's opinion, " secondo che scrive in uno comentoch' egli faceva sopra questo poeta, non condotto da lui se non a pochi canti

del Purgatorio, per esserci state tolto con non piccola perdita de la morte "

(ed. Negroni, vol. i. p. 318). This commentary has not been preserved.

'Vicenza, 1613 ; Padua, 1629; Venice, 1629.


the poem were produced. In the eighteenth century,

however, when a marked reaction took place, two notable

commentaries made their appearance which retained their

popularity down to the middle of the next century. Theearlier of these, by Pompeo Venturi (1693-1752), a Jesuit

of Siena, was first published at Lucca in 1732, and wasreprinted more than twenty times in the next hundred

years (between 1739 and 1850).^ The other was the cele-

brated commentary of Lombardi, first published at Romein 179 1, with the title La Divina Commedia di Dante Ali-

ghieri novamente correta spiegata e difesa da F. B. L. M. C.

(i.e. Francesco Baldassare Lombardi, Minor Conventuale),

a voluminous work, which has been seven times reprinted

in full,^ and four times in an abbreviated form.' To the

eighteenth century also belong the valuable indices to the

Commedia, the first of their kind, compiled by Giovanni

Antonio Volpi (1686-1766), of Padua, which were first

published in the third volume of the edition of the poemissued at Padua in 1726-37,* and have been many times

reprinted.

In the nineteenth century commentaries on the Com-media began to abound. The best known of the earlier

ones are, that of Niccol6 Giosafatte Biagioli (1772-1830),

' Three editions have been printed at Venice (1739, 1751, 1772), one

at Verona (1749), nine at Florence (1771, 1813, 1819, 1821, 1826, 1827,

1830, 1837, 1839), four at Bassano (1815, 1820, 1826, 1850), two at Leg-

horn (1817, 1818), one at Pisa (i8ig), one at Turin (1830), one at Palermo

(1834), and one at Paris (1841).

^ Two more editions were printed at Rome (1815, 1820), one at Padua

(1822), two at Florence (1830, 1838), one at Naples (1830), and one at

Prato (1847).

' These were issued respectively at Rome (1806, 1810), Jena (1807),

and Naples (1839).

* The indices are there described as " indici ricchissimi, che spiegano

tutte le cose difScili, e tutte 1' Erudizioni di esso Poema, e tengono la vece

d' un' intero Comento ".

228 DANTE'S WORKS

first published in Paris in 1818-19, and reprinted more

than a dozen times between 18 19 and 1868^; and the

still more popular commentary of Paolo Costa, first pub-

lished at Bologna in 1819-21, which has been reprinted

more than thirty times.^ Others worthy of mention be-

longing to the first half of the century are the once famous

"Comento analitico" of Gabriele Rossetti (1783-1854),

projected in six volumes, but of which only the first two

volumes (on the Inferno) were published (London, 1826-

27);' the commentary projected by Ugo Foscolo (1778-

1827) in five volumes, of which only one, containing the

Discorso sul testo, appeared in his lifetime (London, 1825),

the remaining portion of the work so far as completed

being published twenty years later (London, 1842-43)

under the editorship of Mazzini; and that of Niccolo

Tommaseo, first published at Venice in 1837, and several

times reprinted.* Of more recent Italian commentaries

the following may be mentioned, all of which more or less

hold their own at the present day ; viz. those of Brunone

Bianchi (Florence, 1854, 1857, 1863, etc. ; tenth edition,

1890) (based on that of Costa, of which Bianchihad pre-

viously published several editions, with additions of his

' Six editions were printed at Milan {i8ig, 1820, 1829, 1838, 1845, 1851),

eight at Naples (1838, 1845, 1854, 1855, 1858, i860, 1862, 1868), and one

at Palermo (1856).

^ Three more were printed at Bologna (two in 1826, one in 1832-3), nine

at Milan (1827, 1840, 1850, 1855, 1857, 1862, 1863, 1873, 1888), nine at

Florence (1827, 1830, 1836, 1839, 1840-2, 1844, 1846, 1847, 1849), four at

Naples (1830, 1837, 1839, 1849-50), one at Monza (1837), two at CoUe(1841, 1844), one at Voghera (1841-2), two at Prato (1850, 1852), and three

at Venice (two in 1852, one in 1856-7).

3 In this work Rossetti developed his extravagant theories as to the

esoteric anti-papal significance of the Commedia, which he afterwards

more fully expounded in his works Sullo Spirito AntipapaU che produsse la

Riforma (London, 1832), and II Mistero dell' Amor Platonico del MedioBvo (London, 1840).

* At Milan, in 1854, 1856, 1865, i86g.

ENGLISH COMMENTARIES ON D.C. 229

own); Pietro Fraticelli (Florence, 1852, i860, 1864, etc.;

reprinted eight or nine times before 1900) (based on Ven-turi, Lombard!, Costa, and Bianchi); G. A. Scartazzini

(Leipzig, 1874-90; minor editions, Milan, 1893, 1896,

1903); and Tommaso Casini (Florence, 1887, 1889, 1892,

etc.; fifth edition, 1903); to which may be added those

of Antonio Lubin (Padua, 1881) ; Giuseppe Campi (Turin,

1888-93); Giacomo Poletto (Rome, 1894) ; and Francesco

Torraca (Rome-Milan, 1905-7).

English commentaries, like English translations, camelate into the field. The earliest made their appearance in

the form of notes to the translations of Henry Boyd

(1785, 1802), H. F. Cary(i8os-6, 1814, 1819, 183 1, 1844),

Nathaniel Howard (1807), Joseph Hume (18 12); I. C.

Wright (1833-40, 184s, 1854), and John Dayman (1843,

1865).^ The first English commentary properly so called

was that published anonymously in London in 1822 by

John Taaffe, an Irishman domiciled in Italy, under the

title of A Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Ali-

ghieri, in the publication of which Byron and Shelley in-

terested themselves, but of which only the first portion

(on Inferno, i.-viii.) ever saw the light.^ Among recent

commentaries in the form of notes to translations of the

Commedia, the most important are those of C. B. Cayley

(1855),^ J. W. Thomas (1859-66), H. W. Longfellow

(1865-7),* A. J. Butler (i88o-92),« E. H. Plumptre (1886-

87), F. K. H. Haselfoot (i887),<' and C. E. Norton (1891-

92)'' ; and of commentaries proper, W. W. Vernon's

^ See Paget Toynbee, Chronological List of English Translationsfrom

Dante, in Annual Report of the Cambridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society, igo6.

^ See Paget Toynbee, Dante in English Literature, vol. ii. pp. 340 ff.

^ Issued as a supplement to his translation (1851-4).

'' Frequently reprinted.

Second editions, i8gi (Paradiso), 1892 (Purgatorio).

° Second edition, 1899. ' Second edition, 1902.

230 DANTE'S WORKS

"Readings" on the Inferno (1894), Purgatorio (1889),

and Paradiso (1900)^; and H. F. Tozer's "English Com-mentary on the Divina Commedta" (1901).^

Other works on the Commedia (or including the Com-

medid) which should be mentioned here are, the Vocabolario

Dantesco of L. Blanc (Leipzig, 1852), translated into

Italian by G. Carbone (Florence, 1859)' ; the Dizionario

delta Divina Commedia ofDonato Bocci (Turin, 1873) ; the

Dizionario Dantesco of Giacomo Poletto (Siena, 1885-7)

;

the Concordance of the Divina Commedia of E. A. Fay(Boston, Mass. 1 888) ; the Enciclopedia Dantesca of G. A,

Scartazzini (Milan, 1.896-8); the Dante Dictionary of

Paget Toynbee (Oxford, 1898); and the Indice dei NomiPropri e delle Cose Notabili of the same author, appended

to the Oxford Dante (Oxford, 1 894).*

^ Second editions, 1897 (Purgatorio), 1906 (Inferno), 1909 (Paradiso).

^See Chronological List of English Translationsfrom Dante (loc. cit.).

^ Often reprinted. ^ Second edition, 1897 ; third edition, 1904.

DANTE ALIGHIERI

Front the painting by A}tdrea del Castagiio, tn the Miiseo Nazioitale at Florence

CHAPTER III

Latin Works—The De Monarchia—The De Vulgari Eloquentia—The Letters—The Eclogues—The Quaestio de Aqua et Terra—Apocryphal

Works.

IN addition to his Italian works Dante wrote several

works in Latin.

De Monarchia.—The most important of these and the

best known is the De Monarchia, a treatise on monarchy,

which has been described as " the creed of Dante's Ghibel-

linism ". Its subject is the relations between the Empire

and the Papacy ; it is a plea for the necessity of a uni-

versal temporal monarchy, coexistent with the spiritual

sovereignty of the Pope. The work is divided into three

books,^ in the first of which Dante treats of the necessity

of monarchy ; in the second he discusses the question howfar the Roman people were justified in assuming the fiinc-

tions of monarchy, or the imperial power ; in the third he

inquires to what extent the function of the monarchy, i.e.

the Empire, depends immediately upon God.

^ The division of the books into chapters was made by Dante himself, as

is evident from the passages in which he refers to previous or subsequent

chapters (e.g. i. 8, 1. 33 ; ii. 6, 1. 10 ; ii. 8, 11. 106-7 ; '"• ^6, 1. 1). The

numeration of the chapters is due to modern editors, who unfortunately

have not all adopted a uniform system. Witte, for instance, divides Book i.

into sixteen chapters, Book ii. into thirteen, and Book iii. into sixteen

;

whereas Fraticelli and Torri divide Book i. into eighteen, Book ii. into

eleven, and Book iii. into fifteen; while Giuliani adopts yet another

system. (For a comparative table of the various arrangements, see Table

xxxiii. in the Dante Dictionary^

331

232 DANTE'S WORKS

Both Villani and Boccaccio include the De Monarchia

in their lists of Dante's works. The former says briefly:

" Dante also composed the Monarchia, in which he treated

of the function of the Pope and of the Emperors ".i Boc-

caccio, on the other hand, speaks of the book at some

length, and relates how, soon after Dante's death, it was

publicly condemned to be burned by the Papal Legate in

Lombardy, who would also have burned Dante's bones if

he had not been prevented :

—

" This illustrious writer also, when the Emperor Henry

VII came into Italy, composed a book in Latin prose,

entitled Monarchia, which he divided into three books,

corresponding to the three questions which he determines

in it. In the first book he proves by logical argument

that the existence of the Empire is necessary to the well-

being of the world ; and this is the iirst question. In the

second book, drawing his arguments from history, he

shows that Rome of right gained the imperial title ; which

is the second question. In the third book he proves by

theological arguments that the authority of the Empire

proceeds direct from God, and not through the mediumof any vicar, as the clergy would seem to hold ; and this

is the third question.

" This book, a few years after the death of the author,

was condemned by Messer Beltrando, Cardinal of II

Poggetto,^ and Papal Legate in Lombardy, during the

pontificate of John XXII. And the occasion of this was

because Lewis, Duke of Bavaria, elected by the Germanelectors King of the Romans, coming to Rome for his

coronation, contrary to the wishes of the aforesaid Pope

John, when he was in Rome, made a Minor Friar, named

* Bk. ix, ch. 136.

2 Bertrand du Pouget, created Cardinal by his uncle, Pope John XXII,in 13 16.

DE MONARCHIA 233

Piero della Corvara, Pope, contrary to the ordinances of

the Church, and made many cardinals and bishops ; and

had himself crowned in Rome by this Pope. And whenafterwards questions arose in many cases as to his authority,

he and his following, having discovered this book, began

to make use of many of the arguments it contained, in

defence of his authority and of themselves; for which

cause the book, which up till then had hardly been known,

became very famous. But later, when the said Lewis was

gone back to Germany, and his followers, and especially

the clerics, had declined and were scattered, the said

Cardinal, there being none to oppose him, seized the

aforesaid book, and publicly condemned it to the flames,

as containing heretical matter. And he strove to deal

with the bones of the author after the same fashion, to the

eternal infamy and confusion of his memory ; but in this

he was opposed by a valiant and noble knight of Florence,

Pino della Tosa by name, who happened to be then at

Bologna, where this matter was under consideration ; and

with him was Messer Ostagio da Polenta, both of whomwere regarded as influential persons by the aforesaid

Cardinal." 1

Critics are by no means agreed as to the date when the

De Monarchia was composed. Some hold that Dante

wrote it before his exile from Florence, chiefly on the ground

that it contains no reference to his exile, it being the only

work of Dante, with the exception of the Vita Nuova

1 Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § i6, pp. 72-3. The whole of

Boccaccio's account of the De Monarchia is omitted from the edition of

the Vita di Dante published, together with the editio princeps of the Vita

Nuova, at Florence in 1576 with the imprimatur of the Florentine In-

quisitor General. This suppression was noticed by Milton, who remarks

on the fact in his Commonplace Book (see Paget Toynbee, Dante in Eng-lish Literature, vol. i. p. 122).

234 DANTE'S WORKS

(written in his youth), and the Quaestio de Aqua et Terra

(written just before his death), in which he does not refer

to his being an exile.^ Others maintain that it was written

as late as 13 17-18, or even later, on the ground that in

many of the MSS. there is a passage which contains a

direct mention of the Paradiso.^ Unless this is a later

interpolation either by Dante himself, or by some copyist

(which seems the. more probable), it follows necessarily

that the treatise must have been written after the Para-

diso, and consequently towards the close of Dante's life.

On the whole, the most probable view is that it was

written, as Boccaccio says it was, about the time whenthe Emperor Henry VII visited Italy, perhaps in 131

1

or 1312.^

1 The chief upholder of this theory was Karl Witte—see the Prolego-

mena to his edition (Vienna, 1874) of the De Monarckia, pp. xxxiii-xlix.

^ The passage in question, which occurs in the middle of the twelfth

chapter of the first book runs as follows :

—

" Libertas aibitrii . . . est maximum donum humanae naturae a Deocollatum, sicut in Paradiso Comedie jam dixi ".

This is an unmistakable reference to Paradiso, v. ig-24 :

—

" Lo maggior don che Dio per sua larghezza

Fesse cieando, ed alia sua bontate

Piii conformato, e quel ch' ei piu apprezza,

Fu della volenti la libertate,

Di che le creature intelligenti,

E tutte e sole furo e son dotate."

' There is a passage at the beginning of the second book, which, ac-

cording to the reading of the most important MS., as well as of all the

early printed editions, contains an undoubted reference to the Emperor HenryVII. In his rebuke to the opposition offered to the Emperor Dante speaks

of " Reges et principes in hoc unico concordantes, ut adversentur Dominosuo et uncto suo Romano Principi " (ii. i, 11. 25-7). This reference to the

Emperor as "the Lord's anointed " can only be to Henry VII. To noother of the successors of Frederick II, contemporary with himself, wouldDante have dreamed of applying this term. In a passage of the Convivio,

where he describes Frederick as " the last Emperor of the Romans," heemphatically declines to recognize Rudolf and Adolf and Albert (the im-

DE MONARCHIA 235

The arguments of the De Monarchia are admirably

summarised in Bryce's Holy Roman Empire ^ :

—

Book I.—Monarchy is first proved to be the true and

rightful form of Government. Men's objects are best at-

tained during universal peace : this is possible only under

a monarch (i. 1-7). And as he is the image of the divine

unity, so man is through him made one, and brought most

near to God (i. 8). There must, in every system of forces,

be a primum mobile ; to be perfect, every organization

must have a centre, into which all is gathered, by which

all is controlled (i. 9). Justice is best secured by a supreme

arbiter of disputes, himself untempted by ambition, since

his dominion is already bounded only by ocean (i. lo-i i).

Man is best and happiest when he is most free ; to be free

is to exist for one's own sake. To this noblest end does

the monarch and he alone gpjide us ; other forms of govern-

ment are perverted, and exist for the benefit of some class

;

he seeks the good of all alike, being to that veiy end ap-

pointed (i. 12-15). Abstract arguments are then con-

firmed from history. Since the world began there has

been but one period of perfect peace, and but one of

perfect monarchy, that, namely, which existed at our

Lord's birth, under the sceptre of Augustus (i. 16).

, BookJA.r—Since then the heathen have raged, and the

kings of the earth have stood up ; they have set them-

selves against their Lord, and His anointed the Roman

mediate predecessors of Henry VII) as Emperors at all: "Federigo di

Soave, ultimo Imperador de' Romani, ultimo dico per rispetto al tempo

presente, non ostante che Ridolfo e Adolfo e Alberto poi eletti sieno ap-

presso la sua morte e de' suoi discendenti " (iv. 3, 11. 39-43). Now HenryVII was crowned at Aix on 6 January, 1309 ; consequently, if the above

be the true reading, as there can be hardly a doubt that it is, the book

must have been written later than that date (see Paget Toynbee, Dante

Studies and Researches, pp. 302-3),

•Reproduced (with references added) by kind permission of the author.

236 DANTE'S WORKS

prince (ii. i). The universal dominion, the need for

which has been thus established, is then proved to be-

long to the Romans. Justice is the will of God, a

will to exalt Rome shown through her whole history. Her

virtues deserved honour : Virgil is quoted to prove those

of Aeneas, who by descent and marriage was the heir of

the three continents: of Asia through Assaracus and

Creusa ; of Africa by Electra (daughter of Atlas and

mother of Dardanus) and by Dido ; of Europe by Dar-

danus and Lavinia. God's favour was approved in the

fall of the shields to Numa, in the miraculous deliverance

of the capitol from the Gauls, in the hailstorm after Cannae.

Justice is also the advantage of the state : that advantage

was the constant object of the virtuous Cincinnatus, and

the other heroes of the republic. They conquered the

world for its own good, and therefore justly, as Cicero

attests ; so that their sway was not so much the commandas the protection of the whole earth (ii. 2-6). Nature her-

self, the fountain of all right, had, by their geographical

position and by the gift of a genius so vigorous, marked

them out for universal dominion :

—

Excudent alii spirantia moUius aera,

Credo equidem : vivos ducent de marmore vultus

;

Orabunt causas melius, coelique meatus

Describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent

:

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento

;

Hae tibi erunt artes;pacisque imponere morem,

Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos (ii. 7).'

Finally, the right of war asserted, Christ's birth, and

death under Pilate, ratified their government. ForChristian doctrine requires that the procurator should

have been a lawful judge, which he was not unless Tiberius

^ Aeneid, vi. 848-54.

DE MONARCHIA 237

was a lawful Emperor. Else Adam's sin and that of his

race was not duly punished in the person of the Saviour

(ii. 8-13).

jSflaLIII.=^The relations of the imperial and papal powerare then examined, and the passages ofScripture (tradition

being rejected), to which the advocates of the Papacy ap-

peal, are elaborately explained away (iii. 1-3). The argu-

ment from the sun and moon does not hold, since both lights

existed before man's creation, and at a time when, as still

sinless, he needed no controlling powers. Else accidentia

would have preceded propria in creation. The moon, too,

does not receive her being nor all her light from the sun,

but so much only as makes her more effective. So there

is no reason why the temporal should not be aided in a

corresponding measure by the spiritual authority (iii. 4)

This difficult text disposed of, others fall more easily

;

Levi and Judah, Samuel and Saul, the incense and gold

offered by the Magi ^ ; the two swords, the power of

binding and loosing given to Peter (iii, 5-9). Con-

stantine's Donation was illegal : no single Emperor or

Pope can disturb the everlasting foundations of their

respective thrones ; the one had no right to bestow, nor

the other to receive, such a gift (iii. 10). In giving the

imperial crown to Charles the Great, Leo the Third ^ ex-

ceeded his powers : usurpatio juris non facit jus (iii. 11).

It is alleged that all things of one kind are reducible to

one individual, and so all men to the Pope. But Emperorand Pope differ in kind, and so far as they are men, are

reducible only to God, on whom the Empire immediately

depends ; for it existed before Peter's see, and was recog-

' Typifying the spiritual and temporal powers. Dante meets this by

distinguishing the homage paid to Christ from that which His Vicar can

rightfully demand.'^ [Dante actually, by an error, says Hadrian crowned Charles the Great.]

238 DANTE'S WORKS '

nized by Paul when he appealed to Caesar. The temporal

power of the Papacy can have been given neither by

natural law, nor divine ordinance, nor universal consent

:

nay, it is against its own Form and Essence, the life of

Christ, who said " My kingdom is not of this world " (iii.

12-lS).

f.

Man's nature is twofold, corruptible and incorruptible

:

he has therefore two ends, active virtue on earth, and the

(enjoyment of the sight of God hereafter; the one to be

/ attained by practice conformed to the precepts of philo-

/ sophy, the other by the theological virtues. Hence two

guides are needed, the Pontiff and the Emperor, the latter

' of whom, in order that he may direct mankind in accord-

ance with the teachings of philosophy to temporal

blessedness, must preserve universal peace in the world.

Thus are the two powers equally ordained of God, andthe Emperor, though supreme in all that pertains to the

secular world, is in some things dependent on the Pontiff,

since earthly happiness is subordinate to eternal. " LetCaesar, therefore, show towards Peter the reverence where-

with a firstborn son honours his father, that, being illu-

mined by the light of his paternal favour, he may the

more excellently shine forth upon the whole world, to the

rule of which he has been appointed by Him alone whois of all things, both spiritual and temporal, the King andGovernor"^ (iii. i6).

The Ue Monarchia was twice translated into Italian in

the fifteenth century; viz. by an anonymous writer in

146 1, and by Marsilio Ficino, the Florentine Platonist, in

1467.^ It was first printed in the original Latin at Basle

' Ed. 1904, pp. 276-80.i* See Tom's edition, pp. xli-ii, 118-21. Ficino's translation accompanies

the Latin text in the editions of FraticelH, by whom it was first printedin 1839. There are three English translations of the D« Monarchia, viz.

DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA 239

i" 1559 (in a collection of treatises on subjects connectedwith the Roman Empire)/ by a Protestant publisher,

Joannes Oporinus (Johann Herbst), and was in all pro-

bability seen through the press by an Englishman, JohnFoxe, the martyrologist, who was employed as reader of the

press in the printing-office of Oporinus, and who quotes

the work in his Book of Martyrs?' Curiously enough,

Oporinus thought the treatise was not written by the

author of the Divina Commedia, but by a fifteenth century

writer of the same name.*

Eight manuscripts of the De Monarchia have been pre

served, three ofthe fourteenth century, four of the fifteenth,

and one of the sixteenth.*

De Vulgari Eloquentia:—Besides the De MonarchiaDante wrote in Latin prose a treatise on the vulgar tongue

{De Vulgari Eloquentia), which is mentioned among his

writings by both Villani and Boccaccio. The former says

(in a passage which is omitted from some manuscripts) :

—

"Dante also wrote a short work, entitled De Vulgari

Eloquentia, which he intended to be in four books, but

only two of these are in existence, perhaps owing to his

premature death ; in this work, in vigorous and elegant

by F. J. Church, in Dante : an Essay, by R. W. Church, 1879 (pp. 177-308)

;

by P. H. Wicksteed, in Translation of the Latin Works of Dante, 1904

(pp. 127-279) ; and by Aurelia Henry, 1904.

'^Andreee Alciati yureconsulti clariss. De Formula Romani Imperii

Libellus. Accesserunt non dissimilis argumenti Dantis Florentini DeMonarchia libri tres. Radulphi Carnotensis De translatione Imperii

libellus. Chronica M. jfordanis, Qualiter Romamim Imperium translatum

sit ad Germanos. Omnia nunc primum in lucem edita.

2 See Paget To5mbee, John Foxe and the Editio Princeps of Dante's

De Monarchia, in Aihenceum, 14 April, 1906.

' In his Epistola Dedicatoria he says :" Sunt autem quos adjunximus,

primilm Dantis Aligherii, non vetustioris illius Florentini poetae celeberrimi,

sed philosophi acutissimi atque doctiss. viri, et AngeU Politiani familiaris

quondam, de Monarchia libri tres " (p. 51).

* See the Codictm Ehnchus in Witte's edition, pp. Ivii-viii.

240 DANTE'S WORKS

Latin, and with admirable arguments, he condemns all

the vernacular dialects of Italy".'

Boccaccio says :

—

" Subsequently, not long before his death, Dante com-

posed a little book in Latin prose, which he entitled De

Vulgari Eloquentia, wherein he purposed to give in-

struction, to such as wished to learn, in the art of com-

posing in rime; and though it appears from the work

itself that he intended to devote four books to the subject,

either because he was surprised by death before he had

completed them, or because the others have been lost,

only two books are now to be found." ^

The work consists of a dissertation on the Italian lan-

guage as a literary tongue, in the course of which Dante

passes in review the fourteen dialects of Italy. It also

contains a consideration of the metre of the canzone, thus

forming to a certain extent an " art of poetry ". Like the

Convivio, the De Vulgari Eloquentia is incomplete. It

was originally planned, as both Villani and Boccaccio ob-

serve, to consist of at least four books, as appears from the

fact that Dante twice reserves points for consideration in

the fourth book.^ In its unfinished state it consists of

two books only ; the first, which is introductoty, is divided

into nineteen chapters ; the second, into fourteen, the last

of which is incomplete, the work breaking off abruptly in

the middle of the inquiry as to the structure of the stanza.

The division into numbered chapters, as in the case of the

Convivio, is due to Dante himself, as is evident from the

fact that on one occasion he refers back to a previous

chapter.*

The exact date of the composition of the De Vulgari

Eloquentia is disputed. It was certainly written after

1 Bk. ix. ch. 136. ^ Vita di Dante, ed. cit. § i6, p. 74.' " In quarto hujus operis " (ii. 4, 1. 13 ; 8, 1. 83).

4 " In tertio hujus libri capitulo " (ii. 8, 11. 61-2).


Dante's exile, references to which occur in both books of

the treatise.^ It is probably an earlier work than the

De Monarchia, and perhaps earlier than the Convivio

;

but there is a strong argument for placing it after the latter

in a passage in that work in which Dante speaks of a bookwhich, God willing, he intends to compose upon the vulgar

tongue.2 On the other hand, John I, Marquis of Mont-ferrat, who died in 1305, is spoken of as being still alive

;

as are Azzo VIII of Este, who died in 1308, and Charles

1 1 of Naples, who died in 1 309.^ It appears probable,

therefore, that the treatise was written between 1 302 and

1305, and consequently before the Convivio.^

The contents of the De Vulgari Eloquentia are briefly

as follows ^ :

—

Book I.

—

Chap. I. Introductory. Wherein the vulgar

tongue, or vernacular, differs from a learned or literary

language, such as Latin.

—

Chap. 2. That man alone, as

distinguished from angels and animals, is endowed with

speech.

—

Chap. 3. For what reasons man had need of

speech.

—

Chap. 4. The origin of human speech. Adamthe first speaker ; his first utterance the name of God.

—

Chap. 5. Adam's first utterance addressed to God, in

the Garden of Eden.

—

Chap. 6. That the Hebrew tongue,

the language of all mankind down to the building of the

Tower of Babel, was the language spoken by Adam.

—

1 " Nos autem cui mundus est patria, velut piscibus aequor, quamquamSarnum biberimus ante dentes, et Florentiara adeo diligamus ut, quia

dileximus, exilium patiamur injuste . ." (i. 6, 11. 17-21 ; cf. i. 17, 11. 35-8

;

ii. 6, 11. 36-9).2 " Un libra ch' io intendo di fare, Dio concedente, di Volgare Eloquenza "

(i. 5, 11. 67-9).

3 V. E. i. 12, 11. 36-9.

* It is, of course, possible that Dante may have had the two works on

hand concurrently.

* The arguments at the head of the chapters in A. G. Ferrers Howell's

translation have occasionally been utilised in this analysis.

16

242 DANTE'S WORKS

Chap. 7. Of the building of the Tower of Babel, and

of the confusion of tongues. That the children of Shem,

who took no part in the building of Babel, and from

whom was descended the people of Israel, alone retained

the use of the Hebrew tongue.—C^«/. 8. Of the inhabi-

tants and languages of Europe, and of their boundaries

;

viz. the Teutons, English, and others, in the North of

Europe, who used the aflfirmation ib ; the Greeks in the

East of Europe and part of Asia ; and the Spaniards,

French, and Italians in the South, whose affirmations were

respectively oc, oil, and si.—Chap. 9. Of the language of

the South of Europe, which was originally one and the

same, but eventually was split up into three, as indicated

by the affirmations oc, oil, and si. Of the cause of varia-

tion in language. That no vernacular is invariable,

whence the necessity for the invention of " grammar " (i.e.

literary language with fixed rules).

—

Chap. 10. Of the

respective claims to precedence of the languages of si, ml,

and oc. Classification of the principal dialects of Italy,

according as they belong to the west or east side of

the Apennines. The number of dialects fourteen, but the

varieties of idiom in Italy alone more than a thousand, if

every variation be reckoned.

—

Chaps. 11-15. Examination

of the several dialects of Italy, in the search for a languc^e

worthy to be called the Italian tongue.

—

Chap. 11. Re-

jection of the dialects of Rome, the March of Ancona,

Spoleto, Milan, Bergamo, Aquileia, Istria, the Casentino,

Prato, and Sardinia.

—

Chap. 12. Of Sicily as the birth-

place of Italian poetry. Of the degeneracy of the princes

of Italy as compared with Frederick II and his son

Manfred. Rejection of the local Sicilian dialect (as dis-

tinguished from the language used by Sicilian poets), andof the Apulian dialect

—

Chap. 13. Rejection of the

Tuscan dialects (of Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, and


Arezzo) ; of the Umbrian (of Perugia, Orvieto, and Citta

di Castello); and of the Genoese. Of certain Tuscan

poets (including Dante himself) who rose superior to their

local dialect.

—

Chap. 14. Of the two types of dialect on

the east side of the Apennines; viz. the soft dialect

peculiar to Romagna, and especially to Forll, and the

harsh dialect characteristic of Brescia, Verona, Vicenza,

Padua, and Treviso. All of these rejected, together with

the Venetian dialect.

—

Chap. 15. Examination of the

dialect of Bologna, which, though superior to all other

local dialects, is yet by no means worthy to be ranked

as the language of Italy, as is evident from the fact that

it was rejected by the most distinguished poets of Bologna,

such as Guido Guinicelli, Onesto, and others. Rejection

of the frontier dialects ofTrent, Turin, and Alessandria.

—

Chap. 16. No single dialect having been found to conform

to the required conditions, a standard must be sought for,

which is declared to be the " illustrious, cardinal, courtly,

and curial " vernacular, common to all the cities of Italy,

and peculiar to none.

—

Chap. 17. Explanation of the

term " illustrious " as applied to the common language of

Italy.

—

Chap. 18. Explanation of the terms "cardinal,"

" courtly," and "curial," as applied to the same.

—

Chap.

19. This "illustrious, cardinal, courtly, and curial" lan-

guage declared to belong to the whole of Italy, and to be

the Italian vulgar tongue. The author's intention (only

fulfilled in part) to treat first of this " illustrious " language,

and of those considered worthy to use it ; and then to

discuss in detail the lower forms of the vernacular language.

Book II.

—

Chap. I. That the " illustrious " language is

equally fitted for prose and verse. Consideration of its

use in verse. Ought it to be used by every one whowrites verse? No, but only by those who write with

knowledge and genius, since the best language is suited

244 DANTE'S WORKS

only to the best thoughts.—Ckap. 2. Of the subjects

worthy to be treated of in the " illustrious " language.

These decided to be Arms, Love, and Virtue. Of the

poets, Provencal and Italian (including Dante himself),

who have sung of these subjects.

—

Chap. 3. Of the different

forms of vernacular poems : canzoni, ballate, and sonnets.

The canzone the most excellent form, and consequently

that in which the most excellent subjects (named above)

should be treated of. Of the preeminence of the canzone.

—Chap. 4. Of the form of the canzone. Definition of

poetry. Of the choice of subject, and of the style in which

it should be treated of, whether in the tragic, comic, or

elegiac. Of the tragic style.

—

Ckap. 5. Of the different

lines permissible in the canzone. The line of eleven

syllables the most stately on several grounds, and con-

sequently to be preferred. Examples of this line from

Proven9al and Italian poets (including Dante himself).

—

CAap. 6. Of construction, that is, of the arrangement of

words according to rule. Of the various kinds of con-

struction. The most illustrious kind that which combines

taste, elegance, and loftiness. Examples of the use of this

kind by Provencal and Italian poets (including Dante).

List of Latin writers, in verse and prose, who might have

furnished other examples. Denunciation of those who cry

up Guittone d' Arezzo as a model, his style being plebeian

both in vocabulary and construction.

—

Ckap. 7. Of the

different classes of words, viz. "childish," "feminine,"

" manly," " sylvan," " urban," etc. Of those whose use is

admissible in the canzone. Instances of these.

—

CAap. 8.

Of the meanings of the term canzone. Definition of the

canzone in the technical sense as used by the author.

One of Dante's own canzoni quoted as an example.

—

CAap. 9. Of the stanza ; and of the three essential points

in the art of the canzone. Definition of the stanza.

—

CAai>. 10. Of the structure of the stanza in relatinn tn the-


musical setting. Explanation ofthe various terms employed.—Chap. II. Of the relation between the several parts of

the stanza in regard to the number of lines and syllables.

Three of Dante's own canzoni quoted in illustration.

—

Chap. 12. Of the arrangement of different kinds of lines

in the stanza. Canzoni of Provencal and Italian poets

(including Dante) quoted in illustration. Rules as to the

order of sequence of lines of different lengths in the " foot

"

and in the " verse " (in the technical sense of these terms

as used by Dante).

—

Chap. 13. Of the unrimed stanza;

and of the rimed stanza. Rules as to the arrangement

of rimes in the " foot " and in the " verse ". Of three

things to be avoided in the matter of rime. Two sestine

of Dante's quoted in illustration.

—

Chap. 14. Of the numberof lines and syllables in the stanza ; and of the length of

the stanza in relation to the subject [in the midst of which

the treatise comes abruptly to an end].

The De Vulgari Eloquentia made its first appearance

in print in the Italian translation of Trissino, published

(anonymously) at Vicenza in 1529. The original Latin

text was first printed about fifty years later (in 1577) at

Paris, by Jacopo Corbinelli, a Florentine, who came to

France in the train of Catherine de Medicis. A second

Italian translation was made at the beginning of the

seventeenth century by Celso Cittadini of Siena (d. 1627),

the manuscript of whose version, which has never been

published, and which was first brought to light in 1824,

is preserved in the Imperial Library at Schonbrunn.^ Be-

^ See the introduction (pp. Ixxxv ff.) to Rajna's critical edition, // Trat-

tato De Vulgari Eloquentia (Florence, i8g6). Rajna, who prints speci-

mens of Cittadini's version (pp. ccxii-xv), shows that this translation

was made from Corbinelli's edition of the Latin text, with the help

of Trissino's version (p. xcvi). An English translation, by A. G. Ferrers

Howell, was published in i8go, and reissued in a revised form in 1904, in

Translation of the Latin Works of Dante (pp. 3-115).

246 DANTE'S WORKS

fore the publication of the Latin text by Corbinelli the

genuineness of the treatise, as printed in ItaHan by Tris-

sino, was by no means generally admitted. The Latin

text has been many times reprinted. A critical edition,

by Pio Rajna, was published at Florence, under the aus-

pices of the Societa Dantesca Italicma, in 1896; a revised

text by the same editor was published in 1897.

Only three manuscripts of the De Vulgari Eloquentia

are known to be in existence, two of which (preserved

respectively at Grenoble and at Milan) belong to the

fourteenth century or beginning of the fifteenth. TheGrenoble manuscript (which has been reproduced in fac-

simile) formed the base of CorbinelU's edition of the

Latin text ; while the Milanese (or Trivulzian) manuscript

was the original from which Trissino made his Italian

version.

Latin Letters.—Dante wrote several letters in Latin,

mostly political, some of which have been already quoted.^

Those commonly accepted as genuine are ten in number,

viz. :

—

Epist. \? To Niccol6 Albertini da Prato, Cardinal of

Ostia (written after July, 1304), thanking him on behalf

of the Florentine Bianchi for his attempts to make peace

in Florence, and bring about the return of the exiles, and

begging him to persevere in his efforts, and, further, pro-

mising in obedience to his wishes to abstain from hostilities

against the Neri.

This letter, together with five others {Epistolae ii, iii, v,

vi, vii), is preserved in a MS. in the Vatican {Palatine

1 See above, pp. 93-9, 195-6. Such as we possess were mostly discovered

in the last century through the exertions of Karl Witte, Vi\iO in 1827 printed

at Padua (in Dantis Alligherii Epistolae quae exstant) the letters which hadup to that date been brought to light.

"According to the numeration of the Epistolae in the Oxford Dante (pp.403-20).

LATIN LETTERS 247

1729), which also contains the De Monarchia. This MS.,

which was taken from Heidelberg on the capture of the

city by Tilly in 1622, was presented by Maximilian of

Bavaria to Pope Gregory XV in that year. It belongs to

the end of the fourteenth century, being dated 1394.

The above letter, which was first printed by Torri in

1842,^ is not expressly assigned to Dante in the MS., but

is commonly ascribed to him on internal evidence.

Epist. ii. To Guido and Oberto, Counts of Romena(written circ. 1304), condoling with them on the death of

their uncle. Count Alessandro of Romena, chief of the

Ghibellines of Arezzo.

This letter is preserved in the Vatican MS. {Palatine

1729) already mentioned (see above). It was first printed

by Torri in 1842.^ It is assigned to Dante in the title

supplied by the copyist, but is considered by some

authorities to be not by Dante, but by another hand,

though not necessarily a forgery.

Epist. iii. To the Marquis Moroello Malaspina (written

circ. 1307), with a canzone {Canz. xi. " Amor, dacche con-

vien pur ch' io mi doglia "), describing how the writer had

been overcome by a tempestuous passion for a lady he

had met in the valley of the Arno.

This letter, like the two previous ones, is preserved in

the Vatican MS. mentioned above. It was first printed

(with considerable emendations) by Witte in 1842.^ It is

assigned to Dante in the MS., and is generally accepted

as authentic.

^Epistole di Dante Alighieri edits e inedite, Livorno, 1842 (pp. 2-4).

''Op. cit. p. 8.

^In Dante Alighieri' s Lyrische Gedichte, iibersetzt und erkldrt von

K. L. Kannegiesser und K. Witte, Leipzig, 1842 (Zweiter Theil, pp. 235-

36). A critical text was printed by O. Zenatti, in Dante e Firenze (pp.

431-2) ; but see L' Epistola di Dante a Moroello Malaspina, by F. Novati,

in Dante e la Lunigiana (pp. 507-42).

248 DANTE'S WORKS

Epist. iv. To a Pistojan exile, commonly supposed to

be Cino da Pistoja (written circ. 1308), in reply to his in-

quiry whether the soul "can pass from passion to pas-

sion," with a sonnet (perhaps Son. xxxvi. " lo sono stato

con Amore insieme ").

This letter is preserved in a MS. (which belonged to

Boccaccio) in the Laurentian Library at Florence (xxix.

8). It was first printed by Witte in 1827.1 The letter

is headed in the MS. " Exulanti Pistoriensi Florentinus

exul immeritus," the two exiles being commonly identified

with Cino da Pistoja and Dante. In this same MS. are

preserved two other letters of Dante {Epistolae viii, ix),

as well as the letter of Frate Ilario to Uguccione della

Faggiuola.^

Epist. V. To the Princes and Peoples of Italy on the

advent of the Emperor Henry VII into Italy (written in

1 3 10), exhorting them to receive him as the Imperial

successor of Caesar and Augustus, and the representative

of justice and mercy.^

This letter, like the first three, is preserved in the Vati-

can MS. above mentioned. The Latin original, which was

not discovered until 1838, was first printed by Torri in

1842.* There exists an early Italian translation of it,

attributed to Marsilio Ficino (143 3- 1499), which was first

printed at Rome in 1754. In the title the writer is de-

scribed as "humilis Italus Dantes Aligherius Florentinus

et exul immeritus ".

Epist. vi. To the people of Florence (dated 31 March,

13 11), expressing his indignation at their resistance to

Henry VII, and fiercely denouncing them as rebels

against the Empire.*

' Dantis Alligherii Epistolae quae exstant, Patavii, 1827 (pp. 14-16),

"See above, p. 92 note. *See above, p. 93.

* Op. cit. pp. 28-32. " See above, pp. 93-6.

LATIN LETTERS 249

This letter, like the preceding, is preserved in the Vatican

MS. It was first printed by Torri in 1842.^ In the title

the writer is described as " Dantes Aligherius Florentinus

et exul immeritus". This is one of the three letters of

Dante mentioned by Villani.^

Epist. vii. To the Emperor Henry VII (written on

16 April, 131 1), urging him to come without delay, andcrush the rebellious Florentines.^

This letter, like the two preceding ones, is preserved in

the Vatican MS. The Latin original was first printed byWitte in 1827* from a MS. at Venice. There exists an

early Italian translation, which was first printed by Doniin 1547 at Florence.* In the title the writer is described

as in the preceding letter. This is one of the three letters

of Dante mentioned by Villani."

Epist. viii. To the Italian Cardinals in conclave at

Carpentras after the death of Clement V (written after

20 April, 1 3 14), calling upon them to elect an Italian

Pope, who should restore the Papal See to Rome.''

This letter is preserved in the Laurentian MS. (xxix.

8), mentioned above, which contains also Epistolae iv, ix.

It was first printed by Witte in 1 827.* In the title the

writer is described as " Dantes Aligherius de Florentia ".

This letter, like the two preceding ones, is mentioned byVillani, who says :

—

" This Dante, when he was in exile . . . wrote three

noble letters, one of which he sent to the government of

Florence, complaining of his undeserved exile; the

second he sent to the Emperor Henry when he was be-

sieging Brescia,^ reproaching him for his delay, after the

' op. cit. pp. 36-42. ^ See below. ' See above, p. 94.

'Dantis AlUgherii Epistolae quae exstant, Patavit, 1827 (pp. 30-46).

° In Prose Antiche di Dante, Petrarcha, et Boccaccio, etc., pp. g-12.

8 See below. ' See above, p. 97.

* Op. cit. pp. 53-61. ' Actually, Cremona.

2 so DANTE'S WORKS

manner of the prophets of old ; and the third he sent to the

Italian Cardinals, at the time of the vacancy of the Holy

See after the death of Pope Clement, urging them to agree

together in electing an Italian Pope. These letters were

written in Latin, in a lofty style, fortified with admirable

precepts and authorities, and were greatly commended by

men of wisdom and discernment." ^

Epist. ix. To a Florentine friend (written in 1316), re-

jecting with scorn the offer of a return to Florence under

certain degrading conditions.^

This letter, like the preceding, is preserved in the

Laurentian MS. (xxix. 8), which formerly belonged to

Boccaccio. It was first printed by Dionisi in 1790 at

Verona.'

Epist. X. To Can Grande della Scala (written not later

than 1318), dedicating the Paradiso to him, with remarks

upon the interpretation of the poem, and on the subject,

form, and title of the Divina Commedia} This letter,

which is preserved, in whole or in part, in six MSS.,

including one of the fourteenth century,^ formed the

subject of the opening lecture on the Divina Commedia

delivered in Florence by Filippo Villani in 1391, when

he was appointed (next but one in succession to Boc-

caccio) to the readership on Dante, which had been estab-

lished in 1373.® It was first printed, in a very corrupt

text, by G. Baruffaldi in 1700 at Venice.'^ In the title the

writer is described as "Dantes Aligherius Florentinus

natione, non moribus ".

1 Bk. ix. ch. 136. 2 See above, pp. 98-g.

3 In the fifth volume of his Aneddoti (p. 176). * See above, pp. 195-6.

5 See N. Zingarelli, Dante, pp. 723-4.

"See Scartazzini's Companion to Dante (translated by A. J. Butler),

pp. 359-60.

' In Galleria di Minerva, vol. iii. pp. 220-8 (see Torri's Epistole di

Dante Alighieri (p. 158).

LATIN LETTERS 251

Besides the above ten letters/ there are three short

letters written in Latin, between 13 10 and 1311, by the

Countess of Battifolle to Margaret of Brabant, wife of

the Emperor Henry VII, which were supposed by Witte

to have been composed by Dante, but this attribution

is not generally accepted.^ There is another letter,

which exists only in Italian, purporting to have been

written by Dante to Guido Novello da Polenta at

Ravenna, from Venice, on 30 March, 1314 ; this, however,

is an undoubted forgery, probably of the sixteenth century,

when it was first printed.' Other letters, which have

been lost, are mentioned by several of Dante's early bio-

graphers ; and Dante himself in the Vita Nuova (§31, U.

5-9) refers to a letter he composed beginning, " Quomodosedet sola civitas". Boccaccio says "he wrote manyprose epistles in Latin, of which a number are still in ex-

istence ".* Leonardo Bruni claims to have seen several

letters in Dante's own handwriting (of which he gives a

description),* among which he mentions one giving an ac-

count of the battle of Campaldino ® ; and another referring

to his priorate as the origin of all his misfortunes ''; and

others which he wrote after his exile to members of the

government of Florence, as well as to the people,' among

'There are two English translations of these letters, viz. by C. S.

Latham, in A Translation of Dante's Eleven Letters, 1891 ; and by P. H.

Wicksteed, in Translation of the Latin Works of Dante, 1904 (pp. 295-

368).

^ These letters, which are preserved in the Vatican (MS. Palat. 1729),

were first printed by Torri, op. oil. pp. 64-8 ; their authenticity as com-

positions of Dante is upheld by F. Novati and others (see Novati's article

L' Epistola di Dante a Moroello Malaspina, in Dante e la Lunigiana (pp.

509> 537)-3 By Doni, in Prose Antiche di Dante, Petrarcha, et Boccaccio, etc.,

Fiorenza, 1547 (pp. 75-6).

* Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 16, p. 74.

' See above, p. 54 note. ' See above, pp. 54, 57 note.

' See above, p. 74. ' See above, p. gi.

252 DANTE'S WORKS

the latter being a long one, beginning, " Popule mee, quid

fed tibi ? " i Filelfo quotes the beginnings of three Latin

letters alleged to have been written by Dante (to the

King of Hungary, to Pope Boniface, and to his own son

at Bologna), and adds that Dante wrote many others, too

numerous to mention.^ No trace of any of these letters

has been found ; and it is probable that his account of

them was a mere fiction on the part of Filelfo, whose

statements are by no means always to be believed, and

who is known to have been guilty of literary frauds of

various kinds.

Latin Eclogues.—Dante also wrote two Eclogues, in

Latin hexameters, addressed to Giovanni del Virgilio,

professor of poetry at the University of Bologna, who had

urged Dante to write poetical compositions in Latin, and

had invited him to come to Bologna to receive the poet's

laurel crown. These Eclogues were written during the

last two years of Dante's life, between 1319 and 1321.'

"Two eclogues of great beauty" are mentioned by

Boccaccio among Dante's works,* and, though some critics

reject them as spurious, there seems no sufficient reason

for questioning their authenticity. They exist in five

independent manuscripts, in one of which (the Lauren-

tlan MS. xxix. 8, which also contains three of Dante's

letters), written in the hand of Boccaccio, they are accom-

panied by a Latin commentary by an anonymous con-

temporary writer,* supposed by some to be Boccaccio

Vita di Dante, ed. Brunone Bianchi, 1883, pp. xv, xvii, xxi.

" Vita Dantis, ed. 1828, pp. 111-14.

5 See C. Ricci, L' Ultimo Rifugio di Dante, pp. 68 ff.

* Vita di Dante, ed. Macri-Leone, § 16, p. 74. They are also twice

mentioned by Bruni, Vita di Dante, ed. cit. pp. xxv, xxvii.

5 Edited by F. Pasqualigo, Lonigo, 1887. For the MSS., see Wick-

steed and Gardner, Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio, pp. 268 ff.

LATIN ECLOGUES 253

himself.* The Eclogues were first printed^at Florence, at

the beginning of the eighteenth century, in a collection of

Latin poems (in eleven volumes), Carmina Illustrium

Poetarum Italorum (1719-1726); they were reprinted at

Verona in 1788 by Dionisi in the fourth series of his

Aneddoti, together with the Latin commentary, and have

been many times reprinted since. Critical editions have

been published by Wicksteed and Gardner (London, 1902),^

and G. Albini (Florence, 1903).^

In the Latin Carmen * which opens his correspondence

with Dante, Giovanni del Virgilio, after a complimentary

reference to the Commedta, expresses his regret that Dante

should confine himself to the composition of poems in the

vernacular, instead of in Latin ; to submit such themes

as his to the judgment of the vulgar herd is like casting

pearls before swine (11. i-2i). Giovanni then suggests to

Dante several subjects from contemporary history worthy

of being treated in a Latin poem, for instance, the exploits

and death of the Emperor Henry VII (24 August, 1313) ;

the defeat of the Guelfs at Monte Catini by Uguccione

della Faggiuola (29 August, 1315); the operations of

Can Grande della Scala against Padua (1314-1318); or,

finally, the siege of King Robert of Naples in Genoa, and

his ultimate defeat of the Ghibellines (July 1318-February

1 See G. Albini, Dantis Eclogae (Firenze, 1903), p. xvi.

2 In Dante and G. del Virgilio, pp. 146 ff.

2 There are three English translations of the Eclogues, viz. one (in

blank verse) by Dean Plumptre, in The Commedia and Canzoniere of

Dante (1887), vol. ii. pp. 326-41 ; and two by P. H. Wicksteed, one (in

prose) in Dante and G. del Virgilio, pp. 147 ff. ; the other (in blank verse)

in Translation of the Latin Works of Dante (1904), pp. 373 ff.

Beginning, " Pieridum vox alma, novis qui cantibus orbem " ; the

Carmen and Dante's two Eclogae, vrith Giovanni's Ecloga Resfonsiva, are

printed in the Oxford Dante (pp. 185-90). The Carmen appears from

internal evidence to have been written in the spring of 13 19. (See Ricci,

op. cit. p. 71).

254 DANTE'S WORKS

1 3 19) (11. 26-30); such a poem would extend Dante's

fame throughout the four quarters of the globe, and

Giovanni himself, if thought worthy, would present him

for the laurel crown (11. 30-38). Giovanni concludes by

begging Dante to send him a reply.

Ecloga i. Dante in reply sends to Giovanni a Latin

eclogue,! in which he says that when the latter's poem

reached him he (Tityrus) was in company with a friend,

Meliboeus (Dino Perini of Florence),^ who was eager to

know what Mopsus (Giovanni) had to say (1). 1-6) ; to

which Tityrus replied that Mopsus discoursed of matters

too high for his (Meliboeus') comprehension (11. 7-23) ; at

length,5however, yielding to Meliboeus' entreaties Tityrus

informs him that Mopsus has invited him to receive the

laurel crown at Bologna (11. 24-33). Meliboeus assumes

that Tityrus will accept the invitation, but Tityrus gives

reasons why he should decline, suggesting that it would

be better for him to await his recall to Florence and re-

ceive the crown_ there (11. 34-44). Meliboeus reminds

him that time ilies, but Tityrus assures him that when his

poem dealing with the heavens and their inhabitants (the

Paradiso) shall be finished, he will then be prepared to

receive the crown, if Mopsus approve (11. 45-51). Meli-

boeus thereupon recalls Mopsus' objections against ver-

nacular poetry, and asks Tityrus how he proposes to win

him over (11. 51-7). Tityrus replies that he will send to

Mopsus ten vessels of milk from his favourite ewe (i.e. ten

cantos of the Paradiso) ; meanwhile let Meliboeus con-

cern himself with his own duties (11. 58-66).

Ecloga Responsiva? Giovanni del Virgilio, adopting

the pastoral style in imitation of Dante, sends back an

^ Beginning, " Vidimus in nigris albo patiente lituris ".

^ Apparently the same individual who related to Boccaccio the story of

the finding of the lost cantos of the Commedia (see above, p. 209 note).

' Beginning, " Forte sub irriguos colles, ubi Sarpina Rheno."

LATIN ECLOGUES 255

eclogue in which he relates how, while he was in solitude

at Bologna, the song of Tityrus (Dante) was borne to

him by Eurus from Ravenna (11. 1-2 1); and was echoed

in Arcady, where the long-unheard strain was welcomedwith delight by the inhabitants and by the very beasts

(11. 22-5). Mopsus (Giovanni) then, asking himself whyhe too should not sing a pastoral strain instead of, as be-

fore, a city lay (his carmen), forthwith begins (11. 26-32).

Hailing Tityrus as a second Virgil, he bewails his hard fate

as an exile, and expresses the hope that he may be granted

his heart's desire to return to his own city and there be

crowned (11. 33-46); meanwhile will he consent to visit

Mopsus in his cave (Bologna), where he should receive

every welcome from the friends of Mopsus and from all

the dwellers in Arcady, and where he need fear no danger

(11. 47-76). But perhaps Tityrus would despise the abode

of Mopsus ; and, besides, lolas (Guido da Polenta) would

hardly permit him to exchange his lordly roof for such

humble entertainment as Mopsus could offer (11. 77-83).

Yet the invitation is dictated by admiration and love;

and if Tityrus despise Mopsus, why then he will content

himself with a draught of his Phrygian Muso (i.e. with

the company of Albertino Mussato of Padua) (11. 83-9)

—but he must conclude, milking time is at hand,

and his companions are returning with the setting sun

(90-7).

Ecloga ii. 1 In response to the eclogue of Giovanni del

Virgilio, Dante writes a second poem in the same style,^

relating how, while he (Tityrus) and Alphesiboeus (Fiduccio

1 It appears from a note of the anonymous commentator that this second

eclogue (which some critics hesitate to accept as entirely from the hand of

Dante) was not composed until a year after the receipt of Giovanni's

eclogue, and did not reach the latter until after Dante's death (see

Pasqualigo, op. cit. p. 13).

2 Beginning, " Velleribus Colchis praepes detectus Eous"

256 DANTE'S WORKS

de' Milotti) ^ were conversing together in the shade one

spring day at noontide, suddenly Meliboeus (Dino Perini)

appeared, hot and out of breath (11. 1-30). Greeting him

with laughter, Tityrus asks him why he comes in such

hot haste (11. 31-5). Meliboeus makes no reply, but blows

on his flute, which gives forth the words of the poem sent

by Mopsus (" Forte sub irriguos colles," etc.) (11. 36-43).

When they have gathered its import, Alphesiboeus in-

quires of Tityrus if he intends to accept the invitation of

Mopsus ; to which Tityrus replies, " why not ? " (11. 44-8).

Alphesiboeus then beseeches him not to leave his friends,

and warns him of the danger he would incur if he went

(11. 49-62). Tityrus answers that for Mopsus' sake he

would willingly for a time exchange their pleasant pastures

for the rugged abode of his friend, were it not for his dread

of the violence of Polyphemus^ (11. 63-75). Thereupon

Alphesiboeus dilates on the cruelty of Polyphemus, and

prays that Tityrus will never place himself in his power

(11. 76-87). Tityrus listens in silence, and smiles assent

—and now evening has begun to fall (11. 88-94). Mean-

while lolas (Guido da Polenta) had been in hiding close

by and had overheard the whole conversation (11. 95-8).

Quaestio de Aqua et Terra.—The authenticity of the

short physical treatise attributed to Dante, known as the

Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, has been long disputed. Until

quite recently it was held by the majority of professed

Dantists to be an undoubted forgery. This work, which

consists of twenty-four short sections, purports to be a

scientific inquiry as to the relative levels of land and water

1 So identified by the anonymous commentator, who describes him as

a physician of Certaldo resident at Ravenna." Polyphemus is thought by some to indicate King Robert of Naples,

the protector of the Guelfs ; others hold the reference to be to a memberof some Bolognese family whom Dante had offended, e.g. the Caccianimici

(cf. Inf. xviii. 48-66) (see Ricci, op. cit. pp. 105 ff.).

QUAESTIO DE AQUA ET TERRA 257

on the surface of the globe ; it claims, in fact, to be a re-

port, written by Dante's own hand, of a public disputation

held by him at Verona on Sunday, 20 January, 1320,

wherein he determined the question, which had previously

been propounded in his presence at Mantua, in favour of

the theory that the surface of the earth is everywhere

higher than that of the water.

The treatise was first published at Venice in 1508, byone Moncetti, who professed to have printed it from a

manuscript copy, with corrections of his own.i Unfor-

tunately he never produced the manuscript, of which

nothing more has ever been heard. In spite, however, of

the suspicious circumstances attending its publication, andof the fact that no such work is mentioned by any of

Dante's biographers or commentators, it is difficult to be-

lieve that it could have been written by any one but

Dante. The internal evidence in favour of its authenticity

is overwhelmingly strong ; while there seems no adequate

motive for a falsification of this kind at the beginning of

of the sixteenth centuiy, when the literary forger found a

^ Quaestio florulenta ac perutilis de daobus elementis aquae et terrae

iractans, nuper reperta que olim Mantuae auspicata, Veronae vera dis-

putata et decisa ac manu propria scripta, a. Dante Florentino poeia claris-

simo, quam diligenter et accurate correctafuit per reverendum Magistrum

jfoannem Benedictum Moncettum de Castilione Arretino Regentem Pata-

vinum ordinis Eremitarum divi Augustini Sacraeque Theologiae doctorem

excellentissimum. At the beginning of the treatise proper, after the pre-

liminary matter, is the following short title : Quaestio aurea ac perutilis

editaper Dantem Alagkerium poetam Florentinum clarissimum de natura

duorum elementorum aquae et terrae diserentem. Only seven copies are

known of the editio princeps, of which one is in the British Museum,

one in the Cornell University Library (Fiske Collection) in America, and

the remaining five in various public libraries in Italy. The work was re-

printed at Naples in 1576, but this edition is also exceedingly rare (see

Athenaeum, 16 October, and 13 November, 1897; and 8 July, 1905). Afacsimileoftheediiie/rtBce/s, with translations in Italian, French, Spanish,

English, and German, was published (by L. Olschki) ^t Florence in 1905.

17

2 58 DANTE'S WORKS

more promising field in the imitation of classical works.

One of the latest writers on the subject, Dr. E. Moore,

who has gone very carefully into the whole matter, un-

hesitatingly believes it to be a genuine work of Dante,

" corrupted possibly in some of its details, but still in all

essential points the production of the same mind and pen

to which we owe the Divina Commedia, the De Monarchia,

and the Convivio." ^ A critical text of the Quaestio, edited

by Dr. C. L. Shadwell, to whom the rehabilitation of the

treatise is largely due, is printed in the third edition (1904)

of the Oxford Dante. This text was reissued in a revised

form, together with an English translation, in 1909.^

Analysis of the Quaestio de Aqua et Terra

:

—The treatise opens with the author's statement that

while he was at Mantua a debate arose as to whether

water " within its own natural circumference " is in anypart higher than the land ; he then states his reasons for

attempting a solution of the question, and his resolve to

commit his conclusions to writing (§§ 1-2). Five of the

chief arguments of those who upheld the affirmative view

are first set out (§§ 3-7) ; but the author holds this opinion

to be contrary both to observation and to reason, and

states his intention of proving first, that water cannot in

any part of its circumference be higher than the land

;

and secondly, that the land is everywhere higher than the

surface of the sea ; he will then deal with the objections

to these conclusions, after which he will show what is the

' Studies in Dante, ii. 356.

' Five English translations of the treatise have been published ; viz. byC. H. Bromby, A Question of the Water and of the Land, 1897 ! by A. C.

White, in Annual Report oj the Cambridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society for

1903 ; by P. H. Wicksteed, in Translation of the Latin Works of Dante,

1904 (pp. 389-423) ; by S. P. Thompson, in the volume containing fac-

simile reprint of the editio princeps, Florence, 1905 (pp. 59-86) ; and byC, L. Shadwell, in Dante's Quaestio de Aqua, et Terra, Oxford, 1909,

QUAESTIO DE AQUA ET TERRA 259

final cause of this elevation of the land, and lastly he will

refute the five arguments in favour of the contrary opinion

already stated (§§ 8-9^. Water in its own circumference

can only be higher than the land either by being excentric,

or by being concentric, but in some part irregularly ele-

vated or gibbous (§ 10) ; in proof of his first proposition

the author demonstrates that water can neither be ex-

centric nor gibbous (§§ 11 -14); proof of the author's

second proposition (§ 15) ; opponent's arguments against

these conclusions (§ 16), and author's reply (§ 17); op-

ponent's answer to author's objections and author's fresh

arguments (§§ 18-19). Having now established his posi-

tion that earth is everywhere higher than water, the

author proceeds to examine into the cause of this elevation,

which he finally refers to the influence of the stars (§§ 20-

21); as to further inquiry, let men cease to search into

matters that are too high for them (§ 22). The author

next refutes the arguments in favour of the contrary view

stated at the outset (§ 23), and concludes with the record

of his own name and of the place and date of the disserta-

tion (§ 24).

Apocryphal Works.—Besides the spurious letters men-tioned above, and sundry apocryphal sonnets and canzoni,

Dante has been credited with the authorship of certain

religious poems in terza rima, namely a translation of the

seven Penitential Psalms, and a poem of eighty-three

terzine, known as his Professione di Fede, which consists

of a paraphrase of the Apostle's Creed, the ten Command-ments, the Pater Noster, and the Ave Maria, together

with reflections on the seven Sacraments, and seven

Deadly Sins, The Professione di Fede, sometimes spoken

of as Dante's Credo} is contained in more than forty

' For the circumstances in which this Credo is alleged to have been

composed, see above, pp. 130-2,

26o DANTE'S WORKS

manuscripts, in the majority of which it is attributed to

Dante, though in a few it is assigned to Antonio da

Ferrara. It was first printed at Rome in the fifteenth

century {circ. 1476),! and was reprinted as an appendix

to the edition of the Divina Commedia published at

Venice by Vendelin da Spira in 1477. It has been manytimes reprinted since.^ The Sette Salmi Penitenziali,

which are contained in numerous manuscripts, were first

printed in the fifteenth century {c. 1475) at Venice.'

They were reprinted with the Latin originals and anno-

tations, together with the Professione di Fede, by Quadrio

at Milan in 1752, who published a second edition, with

additional matter, at Bologna in 1753, which has fre-

quently been reprinted. An Ave Maria, in twenty-four

terzine, quite distinct from that contained in the Profes-

sione di Fede, was printed in a limited edition at Bologna,

in 1853, fi'O'n ^ fourteenth century manuscript*; and

another Credo was printed at Mantua in 1871.*

Whatever may be said as to the genuineness or other-

wise of the Professione di Fede, the proemio of which, at

any rate, can hardly have been written by Dante, it

seems at least possible that the Sette Salmi Penitenziali

may have been his composition, perhaps as an early ex-

ercise in the use of terza rima, a metre which he was the

' Two fifteenth century editions (Rome, circ. 1476 ; and Florence, circ.

1490) are in the British' Museum.' It is included, together with the Sette Salmi Penitenxiali, in the Ox-

ford Dante (pp. 193-202). The Professione di Fede has been translated into

English by Dean Plumptre, in The Commedia and Canzoniere of Dante

(vol. ii. pp. 318-25).

3 Two fifteenth century editions, both printed at Venice, are in the

British Museum.*Ave Maria inedita di Dante Alighieri, edited by A. Bonucci (100

copies).

" Un nuovo Credo di Dante Alighieri, published by A. Manardi on the

occasion of the inauguration of Dante's statue at Mantua on 30 July; 1871.

APOCRYPHAL WORKS 261

first to introduce. It is not to be supposed that Danteacquired the complete mastery of this metre, which he

displays from the outset in the Divina Commedia, with-

out considerable previous practice. In the Commediaitself the increase of skill in the handling of the tersa rima,

and in the avoidance of repetition in the rimes, is easily

perceptible to a close observer as the poem advances.

Quadrio, who pointed out the many Dantesque phrases

which occur in the Sette Salmi, and who had no hesitation

in accepting them as genuine works of Dante, regarded

them as examples of the " elegiac " style,^ as distinguished

from the tragic and comic, of which Dante speaks in the

De Vulgari Eloquentia?

' See his Prefazione. ^ Bk. ii. ch. 4.

APPENDIX AGENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE FAMILY OF DANTE 'aLIGHIERI

(1131) Adamo^I

(1076) Moronto b

(ii8g) Preitenitto

(1189) Cacciaguida a

(born c. logo, d. c. 1147),

m. Alighiera degli Alighieri d1

J i

(n8g, 1201) Alighiero le

ace. to Pietro di Dante,' m. a sister of Gualdrada,?daughter of Bellincion Berti g

;

Eliseo c ''

(1215) Bonareddita (1260, 1277) Bellincione Bello (1255, 1277)(d. bef. 1268)

(1239, 1256,1283) Alighiero II h (1277) Bello (1269, 1277) Gherardo (1260, 1278) Brunetto •• (1269) Geri del (1237, 1241) Gualfreduccio (1277) Cenni i* (1295, 1298) Cione °

(d. aft. 1274, bef. 1283) Bellom. I. Bella (1332)

'

2. Lapa de' CialufE (1332)*

J\ T"

1. Dante Alighieri (1297, 1300, 1301, 1304, 1305, etc.) 2. Francescoi '" (1320) 2. Tanak 2. A daughter 'i (1288) Bellinol (1295, 1311) Lapo (1311) Niccolom. (bef. 1299) Gemma di (born bef. 1279, d. c. 1348) m. Lapo Riccomanno m. Leon PoggiManetto Donati (1329) '

I

L I

(1315, 1332, 1343, etc.) Pietro 12 (1315, 1332, 1343) Jacopo ^^(1332) Antonia (1350) Beatrice ^^ Andrea Poggi i''

(d- 1364) (d. bef. 1349) (d. aft. 1350, bef. 1370)

Note.—The dates attached to the names are those of documents in which the individuals in question are mentioned.a Pay. XV. 89, 135. b Pay. xv. 136. = Par. xv. 136. d Pa/, xv. 137-8. e Par. xv. 91-4. f /»/. xvi. 37. g Par. xv. 112; xvi. 99. h Sow. Hi*. 8 ; liii*. 14 ; liv*. i. i /«/. xxix. 27.

J Sob. liii*. 10. k Sok. liii*. 10. 1 So«. liii*. 11.

^ In a document dated 28 April, 1131, mention is made of " Cacciaguida filius Adami " (see Davidsohn, Geschichte von Florenz, i. 440 re.). ^ Eliseo had a grandson (Arrigo), andgreat-grandsons (Bonaccorso and Eliseo), exiled from Florence in 1268

; and great-great-grandsons (Bonaccorso, d. 1303, and Guidotto), returned to Florence in 1280. ' See above,

p. 41 n. * Brunetto fought at Montaperti (4 Sept. 1260), where he was in charge of the Carroccio. ^ Cenni, i.e. Bencivenni. " Cione, i.e. Uguccione, was alive in 1298 ; his sons are

mentioned, together with Dante, in the Riforma di Baldo d' Aguglione (2 Sept. 1311), viz. " De Sextu Porte Sancti Petri. . . . Filii domini Cionis del Bello et Dante AUighierii."' Bella's family is unknown ; it is conjectured that she was the daughter of Durante di Scolaio degli Abati, in which case Dante's Christian name (a contraction of Durante) wasdoubtless derived from his maternal grandfather. Bella is mentioned as deceased in a document dated 16 May, 1332 :

" dominae Bellae olim matris dicti Dantis, et olim aviae dictorum

Jacobi et domini Pieri " (see Scherillo, Alcuni Capitoli delta Biojrrajia di Dante, p. 29). " Lapa was alive in 1332, as appears from the document of 16 May, 1332, quoted in the

previous note :" dominae Lapae matris dicti Francisci, et filiae olim Chiarissimi Cialuflfi, et uxoris olim Alaghierii supradicti". ' Gemma is mentioned in a de^d dated 24 Aug. 1329

:

" domine Gemme vidue uxori olim dantis allagherii et filie quondam dOmini Manetti domini Donati " (see Bullettino delta Svcieta Dantesca Italiana, N.S. 1902, ix. 184). '" Francesco

is mentioned in at leabt twenty documents between 1297 and 1343 (see Bullettino delta Societd Dantesca Italiana, N.S. 1907, xiv. 124-36). ^1 This sister ot Dante's is conjectured to

be the " donna giovane e gentile ... la quale era meco di propinquissima sanguinita congiunta " of Vita Nuova, § 23, 11. 86, 94-6 ; the " Donna pietosa e di novella etate, Adornaassai di gentilezze umane," of Canz. ii. 12. 1- Pietro and Jacopo are mentioned in the second decree of banishment against Dante (6 Nov. 1315) :

" Dantem Adhegerii et filios " ; as

well as (by name) in documents of 1332 and 1342. Many documents relating to Pietro's life at Verona (1332-1364) have been preserved (see Bullettino della Societi. Dantesca Italiana,

N.S. 1906, xiii. 41-7). 15 Beatrice was alive in 1350 as a nun at Ravenna ("suora Beatrice figliuola che fu di Dante AUighieri monaca nel monastero di San Stefano dell' Uliva di

Ravenna "), when Boccaccio was commissioned to present her with ten gold florins on behalf of the Capitani di Or San Michele of Florence ; she died before 1370, in which year there

is a record of the payment of a bequest of hers of three gold ducats to the convent where she had lived (see Giornale Dantesco, vii. 339-40). !* Andrea Poggi supplied Boccaccio withinformation about Dante's habits and manner of life (see above, pp. 39, 209-11).

Passerini,

[Besides the authorities mentioned above, see L. Passerini, DeHa Pamig-Ha rfj Darei«, in Dante c il suo Secolo (pp. 53-78); FruUani e Gargani, Della Casa di Dante; G. L.eiini, La Famiglia Alighieri; and A. Baitoli, Della Vita di Dante Alighieri, in Storia della Letteratura .'

1 Italiana (voll v. pp. 1-21, '97-110).]

APPENDIX B

LETTER OF FRATE ILARIO TO UGUCCIONE DELLAFAGGIUOLAi

" To the most illustrious and magnificent Lord, Uguccione

della Faggiuola, among the Princes of Italy the foremost and

most eminent, Frate Ilario, a humble monk of the monastery

of Corvo, at the mouth of the Magra, sendeth greeting in His

name who verily is the salvation of all men." In the words of our Saviour in the Gospel, 'A good man

out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which

is good'. Wherefrom we learn two things,—firstly, that by

what Cometh out of a man we may judge of that which is in

his heart ; and secondly, that by our speech, which was given

to us for this purpose, we may make manifest that which is in

our own hearts. As it is written, ' By their fruits ye shall know

them '. And albeit this was said of the unrighteous, yet it maybe understood much more generally of the righteous, inasmuch

as these are ever more ready to make known their thoughts,

and the others to hide them. Nor is it only the desire of glory

which moves the good that is within us to bring forth fruit, but

the very commandment of God, which forbids us to leave idle

the gifts that are given to us. For God and Nature abhor that

which is idle ; wherefore the tree that bringeth not forth fruit in

due season is cast into the fire. Truly, therefore, this man,

whose work, together with mine own exposition thereon, I nowpurpose to send to you, above all men of Italy appears to have

observed from his youth up this precept as to the bringing forth

1 See above, p. 92 note.

263

264 APPENDIX B

of the treasure of the heart ; seeing that, according as I hav

been informed—.and it is a marvel to hear—he tried, even whe

a child, to express himself upon subjects such as had neve

been told of before. And, greater marvel still, he set himse

to discuss in the vulgar tongue matters which could scarce t

expounded by the most accomplished scholars even in Latin-

in the vulgar tongue, I say, not in unadorned prose, but in th

music of verse. But leaving his praises to his works, whei

without doubt every wise man will most plainly perceive then

I come briefly to my present purpose.

" Know, then, that this man, when he was on his way to cros

the mountains, and was passing through the diocese of Lun

whether from reverence for the place, or from some oth(

motive, betook himself to the monastery mentioned aboV(

And when I saw him, and as yet neither I nor the other monl

knew who he was, I enquired what he sought. As he returne

no reply, but only kept his eyes fixed on the buildings of th

monastery, I again asked him what he sought. Whereupoi

looking at me and my brother monks, he said 'Peace'. Thmade me burn more and more to know what manner of mahe was ; so drawing him apart from the others I entered int

conversation with him, and at last recognised who he was ; ft

though I had never set eyes on him before that day, his fan

had long ago reached me. Now when he noted that my who!

attention was set on him, and that I was interested in what 1;

was saying, he drew forth from his bosom with a friendly a

a small book, which he frankly offered to me. ' This,' he sai(

' is part of a work of mine, which perhaps you have never seei

I leave it to you as a memento, that you may the better kee

me in mind.' So saying he handed me the book, which

gratefully accepted ; and pressing it to my bosom I opened i

and in his presence lovingly fixed my gaze upon it. And whe

I caught sight of words in the vulgar tongue, and exhibited son

degree of astonishment, he asked what was the cause of ir

hesitation. To which I replied that I was surprised at the ni

LETTER OF FRATE ILARIO 265

ture of the language ; for not only did it seem to me a difficult,

nay, an inconceivable, task to express such an arduous theme

in the vulgar tongue ; but also it appeared not altogether fitting

that such weighty matters should be clothed in a popular dress.

'Your opinion,' he replied, 'is certainly in accordance with rea-

son. When at the outset the seed (sent to me perchance from

heaven) began to germinate in the form of this undertaking, I

made choice of the language most appropriate for it. And not

only did I make choice of it, but I made a beginning with it,

in the usual poetical style, as follows :

—

Ultima legna canam fluvido contermina mundo,

Spiritibus quae lata patent, quae praernia solvunt

Pro meritis cuicunque suis.

"' But when I came to consider the condition of the present

time, I observed that the songs of illustrious poets were re-

jected as things almost of no worth; and this because the

nobles, for whom in better times such things were written, to

their shame be it said, had Elbandoned the liberal arts to menof low estate. For this reason I laid aside the poor lyre which

I had ventured to use, and made ready another, better adapted

to the intelligence of the public of to-day. For it is vain to put

solid food to the lips of sucklings.' After saying this he added

very kindly that if I had leisure for such a task I might furnish

this work of his with a running commentary, and send it to you

along with my notes. If I have not always succeeded in un-

ravelling his hidden meaning, at any rate I have laboured faith-

fully and in an ungrudging spirit ; and I now, in obedience to

the behest of this devoted friend of yours, despatch to you the

work in question, as requested. Any ambiguities that may be

discovered in it you must set down to my insufficiency, for be

assured that the text itself is in every respect to be regarded as

unimpeachable. If at any time your Highness should enquire

for the other two parts of this work, with the intention of

uniting them together into a single whole, you may ask for the

second part, which is the sequel to this, from the eminent

266 APPENDIX B

Marquis Moroello ; and the third and last part will be found in

the hands of the most illustrious Frederick, King of Sicily.

For as the author assured me was his intention—after surveying

the whole of Italy, he made choice of you three, in preference

to all others, to be the patrons of this threefold work of his."

(The original of this letter, with an Italian translation, is printed

by Fraticelli in his Vita di Dante, pp. 346-9, 357-9; a critical

text is given by Rajna, op. cit} pp. 126-8).

' See above, p. 92 note.

APPENDIX C

Extracts from letters from Seymour Kirkup to Gabriele

Rossetti, concerning the discovery of the Giotto portrait of

Dante in the Bargello, and Kirkup's drawing from it.^

Florence, 12 September, 1840.

. . . We have made a discovery of an original portrait of

Dante in fresco by Giotto ! Although I was a magna pars in

this undertaking, the Jacks in Oiifice have not allowed me yet

to make a copy. Sono tanto gelosi, most likely afraid I should

publish it and prevent some friends of their own reaping all the

profit they hope from that speculation.

I was the person who first mentioned to Sig. Bezzi, a Pied-

montese and friend of Carlo Eastlake's, the existence of the

portrait under the whitewash of three centuries. We were joined

by an American, and we three undertook at our expense to

employ a restorer to uncover the walls of the old chapel in the

palace of the Podesta in search of the portrait—mentioned by

F. Villani, Filelfo, L. Aretino, Vasari, Cinelli, etc. Nothing

but the constancy and talent of Sig. Bezzi could have over-

come the numberless obstacles and refusals we met with. Hewrote and spoke with the persuasions of an advocate, and per-

severed with the obstinacy and activity of an Englishman

(which I believe he now is). He alone was the cause of suc-

cess. We should have had no chance without him. At last,

after uncovering enough of three walls to ascertain it was not

' These extracts are reprinted from Gabriele Rossetti : A Versified

Autobiography (pp. 144-54), by kind permission of Mr. W. M. Rossetti, and

Messrs. Sands and Co.

267

268 APPENDIX C

there, the Government took the task into their own hands, on

our terms, with the same restorer, and in the fifth wall they

have succeeded. The number of walls is six, for the chapel has

been divided into two—(magazines of wine, oil, bread, etc. for

the prisoners).

The precise date of the painting is not known. The poet

looks about twenty-eight—very handsome

—

un Apollo colle

fatiezze di Dante. The expression and character are worthy of

the subject, and much beyond what I expected from Giotto.

Raphael might own it with honour. Add to which it is not

the mask of a corpse of fifty-six—a ruin—but a fine, noble

image of the Hero of Campaldino, the Lover of Beatrice. The

costume very interesting—no beard or even a lock of hair. Awhite cap, over which a white capuccio, lined with dark red

showing the edge turned back. A parchment book under his

arm—perhaps the Vita Nuova.

It is in a group of many others—one seems Charles II of

Naples. Brunetto Latini and Corso Donati are mentioned by

the old authors.

II

Florence, 14 September, 1841.

By the time you receive this, I hope that the portrait of Dante,

for you, will be in London. The gentleman who has taken

charge of it was in such haste to leave the country (from the

consequences of a fatal duel) that I had not an opportunity

for writing.

You will receive, in fact, three portraits. They are as

follows :

—

No. I. A drawing in chalk, on light-brown paper, of the face

as large as the original. I had intended to write a memorandumon it, but in my hurry it was forgotten. Perhaps you would

have the kindness to add it, if you think it worth while, viz. :—

>

" Drawn by S. K., and traced with talc, on the original fresco

by Giotto, discovered in the Chapel of the Palazzo del Podesti,

Florence, on the 21st July, 1840, before it wa,s retouched."

LETTERS OF KIRKUP TO G. ROSSETTI 269

No. 2. A small sketch in water-colours, giving the colours

of the dress, and the heads supposed to be of Corso Donati

and Brunetto Latini.

No. 3. A lithography by the painter and restorer Marini, whouncovered the painting. This is made on a tracing by himself.

I thought it useful to send you these in order to give you a

better idea of this very interesting discovery—Dante, under

thirty years of age. With respect to No. i, it is fixed with

glue-water, and will not rub out with common usage. Theonly thing it is liable to is the cracking or bending of the paper,

which sometimes in a face alters the expression.

Since I drew it, I have had the mortification to see the

original retouched, and its beauty destroyed. You will perceive

that the eye is wanting. A deep hole in the wall was found

exactly on that spot, as if done on purpose. It was necessary

to fill it that it might not extend further ; not content, they

ordered Sig. Marini to paint the eye on it, and he has daubed

over the face in many parts, to the ruin of its expression and

character. It is now fifteen years older, a mean pinched ex-

pression, and an effeminate character, compared to what it was.

It is not quite so bad as the lithography I send you, but not

far from it. When I saw what was done, I asked a young man,

his assistant, if it was done with colours in tempera, and he

assured me, with a boast, that it was in bon fresco. If so, Dante

is gone for good. But I have still hopes that he spoke only of

the eye, and many of my friends think it can only be accom-

plished on the old, and hard painting by some distemper-colour

of a glue, size, or egg ; and, if so, a damp cloth fixed on it

for half an hour will bring it all away without injuring the

original fresco. I mean to take my time, and perhaps some

day I may restore Dante to himself a second time. I had the

principal part in the late discovery.

The lithography I send you is exceedingly unlike and in-

correct, though a tracing. In shading and finishing he has

totally lost and changed the outline, if he ever had it. It is

2;o APPENDIX C

vulgar, old, and effeminate—the contrary in every respect to

the original. The Florentines of to-day cannot draw, nor even

trace. Think of what such a hand would do, if allowed to paint

over it ! and that has been the case. . . . When I mentioned

to you that my drawing was a secret, I only meant that, if

known here that I obtained access to make a tracing by bribery,

it would compromise those who had assisted me. You are

welcome to show it to whom you please, and do whatever you

wish with it. But I recommend you not to give it away, for it

is the only copy that has been made to my knowledge before

the fresco was retouched,^ except the miserable lithography

which I send ; and, if so bad a copy was produced by the help

of tracing, and from the original in its pure state, nothing very

good is to be expected in future. The eye in the said litho-

graphy was, of course, added by the copier. You will perceive

by my drawing that the outline (the eye lash) remained, which

was fortunate, as it gives the exact situation of the feature.

Ill

Florence, 5 Febrttary, 1843.

. . . The three pomegranates in Giotto's fresco are so un-

certain b their appearance, from injury and time, that I was

doubtful about them, but a word from you decides the question

in my mind. They are chipped and much obliterated ; and,

from there seeming a sort of double outline, and no shade or

colour but the yellow drapery on which they are painted, I took

them for an embroidery on the breast of the Barone. Someremains of fingers and stalk, however, had led the Florentines

to consider them as melograni, and they were puzzling their

brains to find a meaning.

> Another drawing, the original of which is now in Berlin, was made byPerseo Faltoni, who acted as assistant to Marini, the " restorer " of the

fresco (see T. Paur, Dante's Portrdt, in yahrbuch der Deutschen Dante-GeseUschaft, vol. ii. pp. 301-2 ; and K. Witte's note, p. 440). A reproduc-tion of this drawing is given by F. X. Kraus in Dante, Sein Leben undSein Werk, p. 166.

APPENDIX D

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EARLY (CENT. XIV-XVI) COM-MENTARIES ON THE COMMEDIA, WITH TITLES OFTHE PRINTED EDITIONS REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT,'

1. Graziolo de' Bambaglioli; in Latin (1324): // com-

mento piu antko e la pih antica versione latina delt inferno di

Dante, dal codice di Sandaniele del Friuli. Udine, 1892

(published by A. Fiammazzo).

2. Italian translation of the preceding ^ (Cent, xiv) : Comento

alia Cantica dell' Inferno di Dante Allighieri di autore anonimo,

ora per la prima volta dato in luce. Firenze, 1848 (published

by Lord Vernon).

3. Jacopo di Dante ; in Italian (before 1325) ; Chiose alia

Cantica deir Inferno di Dante Allighieri attribuite a Jacopo suo

figlio, ora per la prima volta date in luce. Firenze, 1848 (pub-

lished by Lord Vernon).

4. GuiDO DA Pisa; in Latin (about 1324), unpublished;

Italian translation (Cent, xiv.) of the same, also unpublished.

5. Anonymous ; in Italian (between 1321 and 1337) : Chiose

Anonime alia prima cantica della Divina Commedia, di un

contemporaneo del Poeta, pubblicate per la prima volta. Torino,

1865 (published by F. Selmi);

6. Jacopo della Lana; in Italian (between 1323 and

1328) : printed at Venice in the 1477 edition of the Commedia^

and at Milan in the 1478 edition of the Commedia ; reprinted

(by L. Scarabelli) at Milan in 1865, and at Bologna in 1866-7 :

1 See above, pp. 221-6. " See above, p. 221 note 5.

' In which it js erroneously attributed to Benvenuto da Imola.

271

272 APPENDIX D

Comedia di Dante degli Allagherii col commento diJacopo della

Lana Bolognese ; two Latin translations (Cent, xiv) of the

same, one by Alberico da Rosciate of Bergamo, unpublished.

7. Andrea Lancia; in Italian (about 1334): -^' Ottimo

Commento della Divina^ Commedia. Testa inedito d' un contem-

poraneo di Dante. Pisa, 1827-9 (published by A. Torri).

8. PiETRO DI Dante; in Latin (1340-1): Petri Allegherii

super Dantis ipsius genitoris comoediam Commentarium, nunc

primum in lucem editum. Florentiae, 1845 (published by Lord

Vernon).

g. Anonymous; in Latin (after 1350) : II Codice Cassinense

della Divina Commedia per la prima volta letteralmente messo a

stampa. Monte Cassino, 1865.

10. Giovanni Boccaccio; in Italian (1373-5): first pub-

lished at Naples (with the false imprint of Florence) in 1 7 24 by

Lorenzo Ciccarelli: II Commento di Giovanni Boccacci sopra

la Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri, con le Annotazioni di

Ant. Maria Salvini. Prima impressione ; reprinted at Florence

in 1831-2 by Ignazio Moutier; and again at Florence in 1844

by Pietro Fraticelli; latest edition, by Gaetano Milanesi, pub-

lished at Florence by Felice Le Monnier in 1863.

11. Benvenuto da Imola; in Latin (1373-80); Benevenuti

de Rambaldis de Imola Comentum super Dantis Alligherii Com-

oediam nunc primum integre in lucem editum. Florentise, 1887

(" sumptibus Gulielmi Warren Vernon, curante Jacopo Philippo

Lacaita ") ; Italian translation (Cent, xiv) of the same, unpub-

lished ; another (very untrustworthy) by Giovanni Tamburini,

published at Imola in 1855-6: Benvenuto Rambaldi da Im^la

illustrato nella vita e nelle opere, e di lui Commento Latino sulla

Divina Commedia di Dante Allighieri voltato in Italiano}

i12. Anonymous; in Italian (1375): Chiose sopra Dante?

' On this so-called translation, see C. E. Norton : Review of a trans-

lation into Italian of the Commentary by Benvenuto da Imola on the

Divina Commedia. Cambridge, Mass., 1861.

2 Formerly attributed to Boccaccio, hence commonly known as // Falso

Boccaccio.

EARLY COMMENTARIES ON D.C. 273

Testo inedito ora per la prima volta pubblicato. Firenze, 1846

(published by Lord Vernon).

13. Francesco da Buti; in Italian (completed 1385 and

139s): Commento di Francesco da Buti sopra la Divina Corn-

media di Dante Allighieri. Pisa, 1858-62 (published by Cres-

centino Giannini).

14. Anonymous; in Italian (about 1400): Commento alia

Divina Commedia d'Anonimo Fiorentino del Secolo XIV^ ora

per la prima volta stampato. Bologna, 1866-74 (published by

Pietro Fanfani).

15. Giovanni da Serravalle ; in Latin (February 1416-

January 141 7) : FratrisJohannis de Serravalle Ord. Min. Epis-

copi et Principis Firmani Translatio et Comentum totius libri

Dantis Aldigherii, cum textu italico Fratris Bartholomaei a

Colle ejusdem Ordinis, nunc primum edita. Prato, 1891

(edited by M. da Civezza and T. Domenichelli).

16. GuiNiFORTO DELLi Bargigi ^ ; in Italian {Inferno only)

(about 1440) : Lo Inferno delta Commedia di Dante Alighieri

col Comento di Guitiiforto delli Bargigi tratto da due manoscritti

inediti del secolo decimo quinto. Marsilia-Firenze, 1838 (pub-

lished by G. Zacheroni).

17. Stefano Talice da Ricaldone; in Latin* (i474)

:

La Commedia di Dante Alighieri col Commento inedito di Stefano

Talice da Ricaldone. Torino, 1886; Milano, 1888 (published

by order of the King of Italy, edited by Vincenzo Promis and

Carlo Negroni).

18. Cristoforo Landing; in Italian (1480): Comento di

Christophoro Landini fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe

Alighieripoeta fiorentino. Firenze, 1481.*

19. Alessandro Vellutello ; in Italian (1544) : La Comedia

' So described by the editor because the MS. from which it was printed

is dated (but obviously in error) 1343.

^ Otherwise known as Guiniforte Barziza.

' This is in reality little more than a transcript of Benvenuto da

Imola's lectures at Bologna (see above, p. 225).

* Many times reprinted (see above, p. 226 note 2).

18

274 APPEJNUiA u

di Dante Aligieri con la nova espositione di Alessandro Vellutello.

Vinegia, 1544.1

20. GiovAN Battista Gelli; in Italian (between 1541 and

1563) : originally printed at Florence in several volumes be-

tween 1547 and 1561; first collected edition: Letture edite e

inedite di Giovan Batista Gelli sopra la Commedia di Dante}

Firenze, 1887 (edited by Carlo Negroni).

21. Bernardino Daniello ; in Italian (before 1560): Dante

con r espositione di M. Bernardino Daniello da Lucca, sopra la

sua Comedia delt Inferno, del Purgatorio, et del Paradiso

;

nuovamente stampato, etposto in luce. Venetia, 1568.

' Three times reprinted (see above, p. 226 note 4).

'" In his various Letture (twelve in all) Gelli commented on Inferno, i.-xxv.

,

and on portions of Inferno, xxvi., Purgatorio, xvi., xxvii., and Paradiso,

APPENDIX E

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE OF THE EARLIEST BIOGRA-PHIES AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF DANTE

1. Giovanni Villani{fi. 1348): in his Cronica or Istorie

de' suoi tempi (ix. 135 1) ; first printed at Venice, 1537. [English

translation by P. H. Wicksteed (Hull, 1898).]

2. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375): Vita di Dante^

;

first printed at Venice, 1477 (prefixed to the edition of the

Divina Commedia, published by Vindelin da Spira). [English

translation by J. R. Smith (New York, 1901); and by P. H.

Wicksteed (London, 1904).]

Boccaccio also inserted brief biographical notices of Dante

in his Comento sopra la Commedia (Lezione prima), first printed

at Naples (with the imprint of Florence), 1724; and in his DeGenealogia Deorum (xv. 6), first printed at Venice, 1472 (Italian

translation by Giuseppe Betussi, first printed at Venice, 1547).

3. Antonio Pucci (circ. \2,\a-circ. 1390): in his Centiloquio,

in terza rima (cap. 55) (written in 1373); first printed at Flor-

ence, 1772-1775 (m \oh. m.-Yi. of Deiizie degli £ruditi Toscani,

published by Padre Ildefonso da San Luigi).

4. Benvenuto DA Imola {circ. 1338-1390): in Latin, pre-

' In modern editions of Villani this chapter is numbered 136.

* Boccaccio's Vita di Dante exists in two forms, one of which, com-

monly known as the Compendia, is shorter than the other. The latest

writer on the subject (E. Rostagno : La Vita di Dante, Testo del cost detto

Compendia attribuiia a Giovanni Boccaccio, Bologna, i8gg) argues, with

some probability, that the so-called Compendia, is Boccaccio's first draft ol

his work.

275

276 APPENDIX a.

fixed to his Commentary on the Divina Commedta ; first

printed at Florence, 1887.

5. Melchiorre^ Stefani {d. 1403); in his Storia Koren-

tina (Lib. vi. rub. 340); first printed at Florence, 1759 (by

Mehus, in his Vita Ambrosii Traversarii).^

6. FiLiPPO ViLLANi {d. 1404) : in Latin, in his Liber de

Civitatis Florentix famosis Civibus (ii. § 2) ; first printed at

Florence, 1826.

7. Francesco da Buti (1324-1406) : prefixed to his Com-

mentary on the Divina Commedia ; first printed at Pisa, 1858.

8. Antonio Cartolario : in Latin,^ appended to De Vita

ac Moribus Philosophorum veterum ; first printed at Florence,

1759 (by Mehus, in his Vita Ambrosii Traversarii)* (anony-

mous Italian translation, printed at Venice, 1521).^

9. DoMENico Di Bandino {circ. i54.Q-drc. 1414) : in Latin,

in Book v. of his Jvns memorabilium Universi^ (conipleted

about 141 2) ; first printed at Florence, 1759 (by Mehus, in his

Vita Ambrosii Traversarii).

10. Simone Serdini da Siena (otherwise known as II

Saviozzo) {circ. i^Go-circ. 1419): biographical details in his

poem in terza rima on the Divina Commedia (written in 1404) ^

;

first printed at Paris, 1577 (in the editio princeps of Dante's De

Vulgari Eloquentia, edited by Jacopo Corbinelli, pp. 76-81).

11. Giovanni dei Bertoldi (otherwise known as Giovanni 1

' In the Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani (vol. iii. S.) the author's name

is given as Marchionne di Coppo Stefani.

' See A. Solerti : Le Vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, scritte fino al

secolo decimosesto, p. 81.

' Based on Benvenuto da Imola.

* See A. Solerti : Le Vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, scritte fino al

secolo decimosesto, p. 76.

* See Haym, Biblioteca Italiana, 1781, p. 157 note 5.

' See Tiraboschi : Storia delta Letteratura Italiana, vi. Pte. 2, pp. 1141-5

(ed. Milan, 1824).

' See Carlo del Balzo : Poesie di mille Autori intomo a Dante Alighieri,

iii. 224-241 (Rome, 1891) ; and Moore : Dante and his Early Biographers,

pp. 88 n. 3, 113-15-

EARLY NOTICES OF DANTE 277

da Serravalle) {circ. 1350-1445) : in Latin, prefixed to his Com-mentary on the Divina Commedia (completed 16 January,

141 7) ^ ; first printed at Prato, 1891.

1 2

.

Leonardo Bruni (otherwise known as Leonardo Aretino)

(1369-1444): Vita di Dante; first printed at Perugia, 1671 ;

and at Florence, 1672. [English translations by P. H. Wick-

steed (Hull, 1898); and J. R. Smith (New York, 1901).]

13. Secco Polentone {circ. i^T^-ci'rc. 1448): in Latin, in

his De Scriptoribus illustribus latina lingiuz ^; first printed at

Florence, 1747 (by Mehus in his edition of Manetti's lives of

Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio).

14. Sant' Antonino (1389-1459); Archbishop of Florence,

1446) : in Latin, in his Opus Historiale . first printed at Nurem-

berg, 1484.'

15. GiannozzoManetti (1396-1459): 1111,3X111, Vita Dantis

(originally written in Italian) ; first printed at Florence, 1747.

16. Flavio Biondo (1388-1463) : in Latin, in his Historia-

rum ab inclinato Romano Imperio Libri xxxi (Dec. ii. lib. ix.)

(completed about 1440) ; first printed at Venice, 1484 ; a com-

pendium of Biondo's work was made, in Latin, by Enea Silvio

Piccolomini (1405-1464; Pope Pius II, 1458), and translated

into Italian by Lucio Fauno ("Le Historic del Biondo, da

la declinatione dello Imperio di Roma, insino al tempo suo,

che vi corsero circa mille anni. Ridotte in compendio da Papa

Pio, e tradotte per Lucio Fauno," Venice, 1543).*

^See Moore: op. cit. 110-13. Of this work but four MSS. are

known, only three of which are complete ; one of these is in the British

Museum, another in the Vatican Library, and the third in the Escorial

(see A. Farinelli, Dante in Ispagna, p. 70 «.).

^ See Tiraboschi : Storia delta Letteratura Italiana, vi. Pte. 2, pp.

1145-7 (ed. Milan, 1824). Polentone's work exists in two forms, the one

much shorter than the other—the notice of Dante is printed in both

forms by A. Solerti, in Le Vite di Dante, etc. pp. 154-5.

3 Tiraboschi mentions an edition of Venice, 1480 ; but this is unknownto Hain, Brunet, and Proctor,

* See Bullettino delta SocietA Dantesca Italiana, No. 8 (1892), pp. 21-2,

25 ; and Haym: Biblioteca Italiana, 1781, p. 29 note 7.

278 APPENDIX h-

1 7. Anonymous Notice, in Cronica Generate del 1^21 al 1470,

at Ferrara ; first printed at Milan (s.a.) (by A. Solerti, in Le Vite

di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, scritte fino al secolo decimosesto)}

18. FiLiPPO DI CiNO RiNUCcmi (1392-1462); Vita di

Dante ; ^ first printed at Florence, 1779 (in Delizie degli Eruditi

Toscani, vi. 245 ff.).^

19. Giovanni Mario Filelfo (1426-1480) : in Latin, Vita

Dantis ; first printed at Florence, 1828.

20. Cristoforo Landing (1434-1504): prefixed to his Com-

mentary on the Z'/ww Commedia; first printed at Florence, 1481.

21. Jacopo FiLiPPO FoRESTi (commonly known as Filippo

da Bergamo) (1434- 15 20) : in Latin, in his Supplementum

Chronicarum orbis ab initio mundi usque ad annum 1482 * ; first

printed at Venice, 1483 (anonymous Italian translation, printed

at Venice, 1488; and another, by F. Sansovino, Venice, 1581).'

22. Hartmann Schedel, {d. circ. 1500) : in Latin, in his

Liber Chronicarum * (the famous Nuremberg Chronicle, the print-

ing of which was completed under the author's supervision on

12 July, 1493); fii^st printed at Nuremberg, 1493.

23. Anonymous Notice, in Latin, in the Supplement to the

first Venice edition (5 September, 1494) of the Speculum

Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais.''

' No. xvi. p. 157.

"Written circ. 1450; based on Vellutello and Leonardo Bruni.

^ See A. Solerti : he Vite di Dante, etc., p. 97.* The text of this notice is printed in the Modern Quarterly of Lan-

guage and Literature for March, i8g8 (p. 52), where reference is made to

an article in the Historisches yahrbuch by Prof. Grauert, who shows that

the Speculum notice (No. 23) was borrowed &om that in the NurembergChronicle (No. 22), and that that was borrowed firom the notice in the

Supplementum of Filippo da Bergamo, which in its turn was based on two

passages in the De Genealogia Deorum of Boccaccio. (See above, No. 2.)

' See Haym : Biblioteca Itdliana, 1781, p. 36 note 5.

^ See above, note 4.

' See Paget Toynbee : A Biographical Notice of Dante in the 1494edition of the Speculum Historiale (in Eng. Hist. Rev., April 1895) ; and

supplementary article on the same, in Mod. Quart. Lang. Lit., Marchi8g8 (see above, note 4).


24. JoHANN Tritheim (1462-1516): in Latin, in his DeScriptoribus Ecclesiasticis (c. 79)^; first printed at Basle, 1494.

25. Rafaello Maffei di Volterra (commonly known as

Rafaello Volterrano) (1451-1522): in Latin,^ in his Comment-

ariorum Urbanorum Libri xxxviii; first printed at Rome, 1506.

26. Paolo Giovio (1485-1552); in Latin, in his Elogia

Virorum Uteris illustrium ; first printed at Florence, 1549.

27. Francesco Maurolico (fl. circ. 1550) : in Latin, in his

supplement to the De Poetis Zatinis of P. Crinito and P.

Sampieri; first printed at Messina, 1865.'

28. GiAMPiETRO Ferretti (1482-1557): in Latin, in his

Vitae virorum illustrium civitatis Ravennae ; first printed at

Ravenna, 1864.*

29. GiROLAMO DELLA CoRTE (fl. circ. 1560) : in his Storia di

Verona lib. xxii^ fino al 1560; first printed at Verona, 1596.*

30. Bernardino Daniello da Lucca {d. circ. 1560) : pre-

fixed to his Commentary on the Divina Commedia ; first

printed at Venice, 1568.

31. Alessandro Vellutello {circ. i$ig-circ. 1590): pre-

fixed to his Commentary on the Divina Commedia ; first

printed at Venice, 1544.

32. LoDOvico Dolce (1508-1568) ; prefixed to his edition of

t\i& Divina Commedia; first printed at Venice, 1555.

33. Mathias Flach Francowitz (known as Flaccus lUy-

ricus) [d. 1575); in his Catalogus Testium Veritatis ; first

printed at Basle, 1562.''

1 See A. Solerti : he Vite di Dante, etc, p. 197.

2 See Pere Hardouin : Doutes sur I'dge du Dante, pp. 25-6 (ed. Paris,

1847) ; and Tiraboschi: Storia della Letteratura Italiana, vii. p. 1166.

' See A. Solerti : Vite di Dante, etc. p. igg.

^ See A. Solerti : Vite di Dante, etc. pp. 200-1.

5 Actually only xx.

« See Bulletiino della Societa Dantesca Italiana, No. 8 (1892), pp.

24-s ; and Haym : Biblioteca Italiana, 1781, p. 73, n. 8.

'See Edward Leigh : A Treatise of Religion and Learning, and of

Religious and Learned Men (1656), p. 177 ; and Paget Toynbee : Dante

in English Literature from Chaucer to Cary, vol. i. p. 148.

28o APPEMDIX t.

34. JacopoGorbinelli (fl. 1570-1590); in the edt'd'ojirinceps

of Dante's Be Vulgari Elogtientia (pp. 8i-z), printed at Paris,

1577-

35. Marcantonio NicOLETTi (1536-1596); in his Vite degli

scrittori volgari illustri libri iv, first printed at Milan (s.a.)

(by A. Solerti, in Le Vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, scritte

fino al secolo decimosesto)}

36. Jean Papire Masson (1544-1611): in Latin, in his

Vitae trium Hetruriae procerum Dantis, Fetrarckae, Boccacii

;

first printed at Paris, 1587.

37. Francesco BoccHi (1548-1618): in Latin, in his £/(?^a

Morentinorum Doctrinis Insignium (i. § 20) ; first printed at

Florence, 1609.

38. Alessandro Zilioli (fl. 1 600- 1 630); in his Istoria

delle Vite de' Poeti Italiani ; first printed at Milan (s.a.) (by

A. Solerti, in Le Vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, scrittefino

al secolo decimosesto).^

The above lives and notices of Dante (with the exception of

Nos. 3, 10, 26, 29, 33), many of which were previously more

or less inaccessible, as being either in MSS. or in rare early

editions, have recently been printed, some for the first time, by

Angelo Solerti in his collection of the lives of Dante, Petrarch,

and Boccaccio, down to the end of the sixteenth century, pub-

lished at Milan under the title of Le Vite di Dante, Petrarca e

Boccaccio, scritte fino al secolo decimosesto (s.a.).

Information as to the credibility and sources of many of these

notices of Dante will be found in Storia della Letteratura

Italiana (vol. v.), by Adolfo Bartoli (Florence, 1884); Dante

and his Early Biographers, by Edward Moore (London, 1890);

Studi Danteschi, by Vittorio Imbriani (Florence, 1891) ; Alcuni

Capitoli della Biografia di Dante, by Michele Scherillo (Turin,

1896) ; and in the volume of Solerti mentioned above.

In addition to these, the reader may be referred to the Vita

di Dante of Count Cesare Balbo (first published at Turin in

1 No. xxxi. pp. 222-33. ^ No. xxxii. pp. 234-6.


1839; reissued at Florence by Le Monnier, with additional

notes by Emmanuele Rocco, in 1853), of which an English

translation, with modifications and additions, by Mrs. F. J.

Bunbury, was published in London in two volumes in 1852 ;

the Vita di Dante of Melchior Missirini (published at Florence

in 1840); the Storia della Vita di Dante by Pietro Fraticelli

(first published at Florence in 1861), which is based upon the

Memorie per servire alia vita di Dante, collected by Giuseppe

Pelli (first published at Venice in 1758, in second part of vol.

iv. of Antonio Zatta's edition of Le Opere di Dante ; second

and enlarged edition published at Florence in 1823) ; the

Companion to Dante (London, 1893) of G. A. Scartazzini,

which is a translation (with modifications), by A. J. Butler,

of the same author's Dante-Handbuch (Leipzig, 1892), which

in its turn is a rifacimento of the author's own Prolegomeni

della Divina Commedia (Leipzig, 1890) ; and, lastly, to the

first part of Nicola Zingarelli's exhaustive volume upon Dante

in the Storia Letteraria d Italia (Milan, 1903), of which a

compendium {La Vita di Dante in Compendio), was published

at Milan in 1905.

References to numerous other works (many of them by

English writers), including the valuable monographs by Isidoro

Del Lungo, will be found in the bibliographical sections '^ of

the above-mentioned works of Scartazzini, as well as, under

various headings, in the same writer's Enciclopedia Dantesca

(Milan, 1896-9).

^ Omitted from the English edition.

INDEX

Abati; Ghibelline family of Florence, 37 »., 38; Dante's mother perhapsmember of, 37 »., 38.

Abati, Bocca degli ; his treachery at Montaperti, 24.Abati, Durante degli ; maternal grandfather (as is supposed) of Dante, 38.Abati, Scolaio degli ; maternal great-grandfather (as is supposed) ot

Dante, 38.

Accursius (d. 1260) ;proposed monument to, in Duomo at Florence, 112.

Adamo;great-great-great-grandfather of Dante, 40.

Adamo, Maestro ; burnt alive for coining, 84 ».

Adimari family of Florence ; their hostility to Dante, 43 «., 149 ; Dante'srelations with, 147-9.

Adolf (Emperor, 1292-1298) ; not recognized as Emperor by Dante,234-5 «.

Aguglione, Baldo d' (d. c. 1315); his Riforma, 95.Aix; coronation of Henry VII at, 235 ».

Alberico da Rosciate. See Rosciate.Albert I (Emperor, 1298-1308) ; reference to, in Convivio, 173, 23s h.

;

not recognized as Emperor by Dante, 234-5 "•

Albertino Mussato. See Mussato.Albini, G. ; critical edition of Dante's Eclogues, 253.Aldobrandi, Tegghiaio ; Florentine Guelf, 21,

Aldus (Aldo Manuzio) (1450-1515) ; editions of Z>. C. printed by, 214.Alfraganus ; Dante's astronomical authority, 48 «., 67.

Alighieri, Alighiera degli ; Dante's great-great-grandmother, 40, 41.Alighieri, Alighiero degli ; Dante's great-grandfather, 40, 41 ; his wife and

sons, 41,

Alighieri, Alighiero degli ; Dante's father, 37, 38 ; a notary, 38 ; mentionof, in documents, 38 n. ; twice married, 38 ; his children, 38 ; position

of, in Florence, 39 ; character of, 39 ; alluded to by Forese Donati,

39 ; eldest son of Bellincione, grandson of Cacciaguida, 42.

Alighieri, Antonia ; Dante's daughter, 70 ; identified by some with BeatriceAlighieri, 71 «.

Alighieri, Beatrice; Dante's daughter, 70; with Dante at Ravenna, 71,

99 ; a nun in the convent of Santo Stefano dell' Uliva, 71 ; visited byBoccaccio there, 71 ; her bequest to the convent, 71 ; identified bysome with Antonia Alighieri, 71 n.

Alighieri, Bellincione degli ; Dante's grandfather, 37, 41 ; his sons, 42.

284 INDEX

Alighieri, Dante (1263-1321); mention of, in documents, 38 »., 53, 72-3,

74, 82, 83, 84, gi ; birth of, 36, 42 ; his family Guelfs, 36-7 ; a friend

of Giovanni Villani, 37 ». ; his parentage, 37-8 ; stepmother, 37 «. ;

house in Florence, 37 n. ; descent, 37-42; half-brother and half-

sisters, 38-9 ; origin of his Christian name, 38 ; his nephew AndreaPoggi, 39 ; poetical correspondence with Forese Donati, 39, 51 ; earliest

known ancestors, 40 ; approves the Vendetta, 41 ; born in Florence,

42 ; his baptism, 42 ; breaks the font of San Giovanni, 42-3 ; first

meeting with Beatrice, 43 ; his love for her, 43-5, 53, 63 ;grief at her

death, 47-9, 63 ; tradition as_tp his Jiasing joined_the Franciscan

Order, 48 n. ; corr'esponHence with Cino da Pistoja and ^uidoCaval-cahti, 48-52; alleged unfaithfulness to memory of Beatrice, 51, 71;comes of age, 53 ; military service, S3-63 ; at battle of Campaldino,

53-4, 57, 61, 62, 74; alleged accourif of the battle, 57 n., 251; his

handwriting, 54 n. ; at capitulation of Caprona, 62; early studies,

64-7 ; relations with Brunetto Latino, 64 ; artistic skill, 65, 72

;

familiarity with Provencal literature, 66; ignorance of Greek, 66;attendance at the schools of the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella,

66 n. ; alleged studies at Bologna and Padua, 67 ; marriage, 67-g

;

Boccaccio's picture of his married life, 67-9 ; children, 69-71 ; de-

scendants, 70 n. ; alleged amours, 71 ; attachment to lady at Lucca,

71, 97 ; enrolled in Guild of Apothecaries, 72 ; details of public life,

72-4; embassy to San Gemignano, 73 ;priorate, 74, 75, 78, 81, 86;

document relating to, 74 n. ; belongs to White faction, 82 ; in chargeof public works in Florence, 82 ; opposes Pope Boniface, 82 ; embassyto Rome, 83, 124-5 ; charges,agaiB8t~,-83-4 ; sentenced to banishment,and afterwards to death, 83-4, 88, 98 ; confiscation of his goods, 84-5 ;

his private property, 85-6 ; loans and debts, 86-7 ; in exile, 88-118 ; re-

ferences to his sufferings, in Convivio, 88-9, 91, 175, 177 ; in De Vulg.Eloq., 89 ; his wanderings, 89-103 ; at San Godenzo, 90 ; holds aloof

from other exiles, 90 ; at Forli, 90 ; at Verona with the ScaUgers, 91

;

alleged visit to Padua, 91 ; doubts as to this visit, gi n.; at Sarzanawith the Malaspini, 91 ; relations with them, gi-2 ; supposed visit to

monastery of Santa Croce del Corvo, 92 ».; in Paris, 92; alleged

visit to England and Oxford, 92-3 ; back in Italy, 93 ; in Tuscany,

93-4; present at coronation of Henry VII at Milan, 94; letters to

the Princes and Peoples of Italy, to the Florentines, and to HenryVII, 93-4, 95-6 ; excluded firom amnesty, 95 ; hopes of return to

Florence extinguished by death of Henry VII, 96-7 ; letter to the

Italian Cardinals, 97; at Lucca, 97; attachment to Gentucca, 97;again sentenced to death, 98 ; rejects pardon, 98-g; letter to friend

in Florence, 98-9 ; again at Verona, gg ; goes to Ravenna, 99 ; life

at Ravenna, gg-ioo ; friends at Ravenna, 100 ». ; invited to receive

laurel crovra at Bologna, 100, 252, 254 ; at Mantua and Verona,100-1,257; at Piacenza, loi, 103; reputed a sorcerer, roi-3 ; embassyto Venice, 103 ; death at Ravenna, 103 ; age at time of his death,103 n.; date of his death, 103 «., 151; burial at Ravenna, 104-5;epitaphs, 105-6; his tomb, 106-7; record of his death by Villani,

107, 126-7 ; elegies by Cino da Pistoja and Giovanni Quirini, 107-8

;

poetical correspondence with Quirini, 107 n. ; fate of his remains,109-18; attempts by Florentines to get possession of them, 112-13;proposed monument to, in Duomo at Florence, 112 ; offer of Michel

INDEX -28s

Angelo to design and execute tomb, 113 ; disappearance of remains,

113-14, 117; rediscovery of them, 115-17 ; reburial, 118; character-

istics of Dante, iig-57; description of, by Boccaccio, iig-a5; anec-

dotes of, by Boccaccio, 120, 121-3, 124-5 ! ^'^ abstemiousness, 120

;

taciturnity, lai ; eloquence, 121 ; fondness for music and poetry,

121, 123 ; delight in solitude, 121 ; absorption in studies, 121-2

;

marvellous memory, 122-3 igreedy of honour and glory, 123-4 >

scornful disposition, 124 ; high conceit of himself, 124-5 ; fortitude

in adversity, 125 ;political animosity, 125 ; alleged lustfulness, 126

;

description of, by Villani, 126-7 ;portraits of, 128-43 ; Norton on,

128-40; portrait by Giotto, 128-35, i39-40> 141 1 death-mask of, 135-40;statue in Santa Croce, 137 «. ; his beard, 138 «. ; Naples bronze bust,

141 ;portrait by Taddeo Gaddi, 141 ; the Riccardi portrait, 142

;

picture by Domenico di Michelino, 143 ;picture by Andrea del

Castagno, 143 n. ; anecdotes of, 144-57 ; by Petrarch, 144-5 ; byMichele Savonarola, 145; by Gower, 145-6; byAnonimo Fiorentino,

146-7 ; by Sacchetti, 147-50 ; by Sercambi, 152-4 ; by Poggio Fioren-tino, 154-5 i ^y Sir John Harington, 155 ; by Edward Wright, 156;by Isaac D'Israeli, 156-7; Italian works of, 158-230; Canzoniere,158-60 ; Vita Nuova, 160-73 > Convivio, 173-92 ; Divina Commedia,193-230; Latin works, 231-59; De Monorchia, 231-9; De VulgariEloqumtia, 239-46; Latin LettSVST 2^6-$2 ; Cailn' Btiogues, 252-6;Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, 256-g ; Apocryphal Works, 259-61 ; earliest

biographical notices of, 275-81.Alighieri, Francesco ; half-brother of Dante, 38 ; mentioned by Forese

Donati, 39 ». ; one of the guarantors in act of reconciliation betweenAlighieri and Sacchetti, 42 ; his and Dante's debts and loans, 86-7 ;

helps to discharge Dante's debts, 87.

Alighieri, Francesco ; last male descendant (great-great-great-great-grand

son) of Dante, 70 ».

Alighieri, Gaetana (Tana) ; half-sister of Dante, 38 ; mentioned by ForeseDonati, 39 n.

Alighieri, Jacopo (d. bef. 1349) ; Dante's son, 42-70 ; his writings, 70

;

his career, 70; commentary on Inferno, 70 n., 221-2, 271; withDante at Ravenna, 71, gg ; helps -to discharge Dante's debts, 87 ;

contemplates completing the Paradiso, 207 ; his dream as to where-abouts of missing cantos of poem, 207-8 ; his commentary perhapswritten during Dante's lifetime, 222 n.

Alighieri, Leonardo;great-grandson of Dante, 70 n. ; Bruni acquainted

with, 70 ».

Alighieri, Pietro (d. 1364) ; Dante's eldest son, 41, 42, 70 ; his commen-tary on D. C., 41 »., 70, 223, 272; two different versions of, 41 «.,

223 ; statement as to marriage of Alighiero, Dante's great-grand-

father, 41 ; his identification of Beatrice, 43 ; his career, 70 ; his sonand grandson and their descendants, 70 ». ; visit of his grandsonLeonardo to Florence, 70 ». ; with Dante at Ravenna, 71, 99; helps

to discharge Dante's debts, 87 ; contemplates completing theParadiso, 207.

Alighieri, Tana. See Alighieri, Gaetana..Almanack used by Dante, 197 n.

Alphesiboeus ; name under which Fiduccio de' Milotti figures in poetical

correspondence between Dante and G. del Virgilio, 100 »., 255-6.

286 liNUlLA

American Dante Society, See Cambridge (U.S.A.).

Americans ; translations of D. C. by, 2zi n.

Andalo, Loderingo degli ; Ghibelline, appointed joint Podestjk of Florence

with Catalano de' Malavolti, in 1266, 30 ».

Andrea Poggi. See Poggi.

Anonimo Fiorentino; commentary on D. C, loi n., 146-7, 224, 273 ; re-

marks on witchcraft, loi ». ; anecdote of Dante and Belacqua, 146-7

;

borrows freely from Boccaccio's Comento, 224 «.

Antonia Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Antonino, Sant' (1389-1459) ; notice of Dante, 277.

Arabian calendar ; utilized by Dante in V. N., 47 »., 48 »., 67, 165, 170.

Arbia, battle of the. See Montaperti.Aretines ; defeated by Florentines at Campaldino, 53-60.

Arezzo ; headquarters of the exiled Whites, 90.

Aristotle; Dante's knowledge oi Ethics, t^n., 66; oi Metaphysics, 66;

quoted in V. N,, 66.

Armenian ; selections from D, C. translated into, Z17.

Arnolfo di Lapo (c. 1232-1310) ; forced to build the Palazzo della Signoria

at Florence askew, 12.

Arts, guilds of, at Florence, 30.

Arundel Society ; reproduction of Kirkup's drawing of Giotto's portrait of

Dante, 134.Ascoli, Cecco d'. See Cecco.Ashendene Press ; editions of D. C, and whole works of Dante, printed

at, 217.

Atheist, Dante and, 155.

Athenceum, 217 n., 239 n., 257 n.

Aucassin et NicoUte ; form of, compared with V. N., 166.

Augusta, Princess (1768-1840) ; Tarver's French translation of Infernodedicated to, 215.

Ave Maria; alleged paraphrases of, by Dante, 259, 260.

Avignon ; Papal Court at, loi.

AzzoVIII of Este (Marquis, 1293-1308) ; mentionedin DeVulg.Eloq.,2/\i.

B

Bacci, O. See D'Ancona.Balbo, Cesare; Vita di Dante, 280; ed. by E. Rocco, 281; English

translation by F. J. Bunbury, 281.

Baldo d' Aguglione. See Aguglione.Bambaglioli, Graziolo de' (d. bef. 1343) ; Latin commentary on Inferno,

221, 222, 271 ; Italian translation of, 221, 271 ; identified by Dr.

Moore, 221 ».

Bandino, Domenico di (c. 1340-c. 1414) ; notice of Dante, 276.Baptistery of Florence. See Giovanni, San.Barbi, M. ; as to the site of Dante's house, 37 ». ; doubts as to alleged

documentary reference to Dante, 72 ». ; prints documents relating

to Dante's loans and debts, 86 n., 87 ». ; discusses evidence as to

Dante at Forli, 90 «., 92 «. ; critical edition of V.N., 167 »., 173;chapter divisions in, 167 ». ; on Jacopo di Dante's commentary, 222

n. ; on so-called commentary of Stefano Talice da Ricaldone, 223 «.,

225 "

INDEX 287

Baidi;great Florentine banking-house, 46 ; theit relations with Edward

III, 46 ».

Bardi, Simone de' ; husband of Beatrice Portinari, 46.

Baretti, Giuseppe (1719-1789) printed selections from D. C. in his ItalianLibrary, 214.

Baigello. See Podest4, Palazzo del.

Bargigi, Guiniforto delli (1406-c. 1460) ; commentary on Inferno, 225, 273.Barker, William (fl. 1550) ; notice of Domenico di Michelino's picture of

Dante in his Epitapkia et Inscriptiones Lugubres, 143 «.

Bartoli, A. ; Storia della Letteratura Italiana, 54 »., 164 «., 280.

Bartolini, Lorenzo (c. 1777-1850) ; gives Kirkup mask of Dante, 137.Baruffaldi, G. ; first prints Dante's letter to Can Grande, 250.Barziza, Guiniforte. See Bargigi.

Basle ; ediiio princeps of De Monarchia printed at, 238.

Basque ; selections firom D. C. translated into, 217.Bassano ; editions of Venturi's commentary on D. C. published at, 227 n,

Batines, Colomb de ; Bibliografia Dantesca, 213 «., 222 «., 223 n.,

226 n.

BattifoUe, Countess of; her letters to wife of Henry VII supposed byWitte to have been composed by Dante, 251 ; their authenticity up-held by Novati, 251 «.

Beatrice Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Beatrice degli Uberti. See Uberti.

Beatrice Portinari. See Portinari.

Beauvais, Vincent of (d. c. 1264) ; anonymous notice of Dante in 1494Venice edition of Speculum Historiale, 278 ; Grauert on, 278 n.

Belacqua, Dante and, 146-7.

Bella; Dante's mother, 38; presumed to belong to the Abati family,

37 «., 38 ; first wife of AlighierOj 38 ; mention of, in document, 38 ».

Bellincion Berti ; his daughter the wife of Alighiero, Dante's great-grand-

father, 41.

Bellincione degU Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Bello ; ancestor of Dante, 41 ; his son Geri, 41-2.

Bello, Geri del. See Geri.

Bembo, Bernardo (1433-1519) ; restores Dante's tomb at Ravenna, 106-7,

114 ; entrusts the work to Pietro Lombardi, 106-7 ! his inscription

transcribed by Fynes Moryson, 107 ». ; ambassador at Venice, 112.

Bembo, Pietro (1470-1547) ; son of Bernardo Bembo, iq6 ; secretary to

Leo X, 113 ; letter as to removal of Dante's remains to Florence, 113.

Benedict XI (Pope, 1303-1304); succeeds Boniface VIII, 90; sends

Cardinal Niccolo da Prato to pacify Florentines, 90, 246.

Benevento, battle of (1266) ; Man&ed defeated by Charles of Anjou, 28-9,

31. 34. 35. 36. 59 »•

Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola. See Rambaldi.Bergamo, Filippo da. See Forest!.

Bernardo Canaccio. See Canaccio.

Bertoldi, Giovanni de'. See Serravalle.

Betussi, G. ; translation of Boccaccio's De Geneahgia Deorum, 275.

Bezzi, G. A. ; helps to discover Bargello portrait of Dante, 132, 267.

Biagioli, N. G. (177Z-1830); commentary on D. C, 227-8; editions of,

228 n.

Bianchi. See Whites.

288 IJNiJiiA

Bianchi, Brunone; edition of Bruni's Vita di Dante, 57 »., 74 «., and

passim (See Bruni) ; commentary on D. C, 228-9.

Bible;quotations from, in V. N., 67.

Bice ; familiar name of Beatrice, 44, 47 n.

Biondo, Flavio (1388-1463) ; states that Dante was at Fori!, go m. ; his

Historiae ah incUnato Romano Imperio, go «., 277 ; compendium of,

277 ; notice of Dante in, 277.

Biscioni, Anton Maria (1674-1756) ; Prose di Dante Alighieri e di M. Gio.

Boccaccio, 172, 173 »., 191; the first to use the title Convito in an

edition of the Convivio, 173 »., 191.

Blacks and Whites; origin of, in Pistoja, 75-6 ; in Florence, 76-81 ; leaders

of both parties banished from Florence, 81 ; intervention of PopeBoniface, 82 ; Whites send embassy to Rome, 83 ; ascendancy of

Blacks, 83 ; sentences against Whites, 83-4 ; exiled Whites form alli-

ance with Ghibellines, go ; meeting at San Godenzo, 90 ; abortive

attempt to enter Florence, go ; Dante dissociates himself from them,

90 ; fresh sentences against Whites, 98.

Blacksmith, Dante and, 147-8.

Blanc, L. G. ; Vocabolario Dantesco, 230; Italian translation of, 230,

Bocca degli Abati. See Abati.

Boccaccio, Giovanni (13 13-1375) ; Vita di Dante quoted, 44-5, 67-8, 69,

85, 99, 100, 104-5, 109-12, 119-26, 159-60, 161-2, 174-5, 193-5. 196 ».,

206-8, 212, 232-3, 240,251; date of, 45 ». ; editio princeps of, 275;English translations of, 275 ; two forms of, 275 ».; Comento sopra la

D. C, quoted, 103 «., 2og-it ; acquaintance with Dante's nephew, 39;identification of Beatrice, 43 ; visits Dante's daughter at Ravenna, 71

;

not the forger of alleged letter of Frate Ilario, g2 «. ; states that Dantevisited Paris and England, 92-3; rebuke to the Florentines, iog-12;

proposed monument to, in Duomo at Florence, ri2 ; visits to Ravenna,

119; description of Dante, 119-26; anecdotes of Dante, 120, 121-3.

124-5 ! mention of Dante's lyrical poems, 159-60; of V. N., 161-2;

of Convivio, 174-5 ; account of D. C, 193-5 ! stories ofrecovery oflost

cantos of D. C, 206-11 ; opinion as to why D. C. was written in

Italian, 211-12; letter of Frate Ilario known to, 212 «.; unfinished

commentary on D. C, 223, 272 ;public lectures on Dante at Florence,

223 ; commentary on D.C. falsely attributed to, 223, 272 ». ; Comentoutilized by Anonimo Fiorentino, 224 ».; account ofDe Monarckia,

232-3 ; omitted in 1576 edition of Vita di Dante, 233 «. ; account of

De Vulg. Eloq., 240; owned MS. containing letters of Dante andletter of Frate Ilario, 248, 250 ; mention of Dante's letters, 251 ; bio-

graphical notices of Dante in Comento sopra la D. C, 275 ; and DeGenealogia Deorum, 275, 278 «.

Bocchi, F. ; notice of Dante, 280.

Bocci, D. ; Dizionario alia D. C, 230.

Bodleian Library at Oxford ; authorship of epitaph on Dante disclosed in

MS. in, 106 ; MS. of Convivio in Canonici Collection in, 192 n.

Boethius ; his De Consolatione Philosophies studied by Dante, 65, 67, 166,

182 ; form of, compared with Vita Nuova, 166.

Boffito, G., and Melzi d' Eril ; Almanack Dantis Aligherii, 197 n.

Bohemian ; translation of Z7. C. in, 217.

Bologna; alleged studies of Dante at, 67; D. invited to receive laurel

crown at, 100, 252, 254 ; Jacopo della Lana's commentary on D. C,

INDEX 289

published at, 222, 271 ; Benvenuto da Imola's lectures on D. C. at, 223

;

commentary of Anonimo Fiorentino on D. C. published at, 273 ; first

edition of Costa's commentary, 228.

Bologna, Gian (1524-1608) ; possessed mask of Dante, 136,Bonagiunta of Lucca (fl. 1296) ; Dante's interview with, in Purgatory,

71. 97-Bonaini, F. ; Acta Henrici VII, 97 n.

Boniface VIII (Pope, 1294-1303) ; sentence against creatures of, in Flo-rence, 74 ; intervenes between Blacks and Whites in Florence, 80,

82, 124 ; sends Charles of Valois as his representative, 82-3, 124

;

opposed by Dante, 82; Dante member of embassy to, 83, 124-5;alleged letter of Dante to, 252.

Bonucci, A. ; edition of alleged Ave Maria of Dante, 260 n.

Boschini, G. B. ; editor of first English edition of D. C, 215.Bottari, Giovanni (1689-1775) ; mentions cast of Brunelleschi's face,

13s.Botticelli, Sandro (1447-1510) ; designs for first Florentine edition ofD. C,

226 n.

Boyd, Henry (c. 1750-1832) ; author of first published English translation

of D. C, 219; notes on D. C, 229.Brabant, Margaret of; wife of Henry VII, 251; letters of Countess of

BattifoUe to, attributed to Dante, 251.Braccioforte Chapel at Ravenna ; Dante's remains in, 115, 118.

Bracciolini, Francesco Poggio (1381-1459) ; anecdotes of Dante in his

Facezie, 154-5.

Brescia ; edition of Landino's commentary on D. C. printed at, 226 n. ;

besieged by Henry VII, 249.British Museum ; no copies of Edinburgh editions of D. C. in, 216 ; MS.

of G. da Serravalle's commentary on D. C. in, 224 »., 277 n. ; copyof editio princeps of Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, 258 ». ; Cent. XV,editions of Dante's Credo, 260 n.

Bromby, C. H. ; translation of Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, 258 n.

Brougham, Henry (1778-1868) ; subscriber to Rossetti's Comenio Analiticoalia D. C, 216.

Browning, Oscar; quoted, 5.

Brunelleschi, Filippo (1377-1446); cast of his face preserved in Florence,

135-Brunetto Latino. See Latino.Bruni, Leonardo (1369-1444); Vita di Dante quoted, 54 «., 57 n., 58 «.,

70 n., 74, 77, 85-6, 89, 91, 141 ; description of Dante's handwriting,

54 K. ; claims to have seen letters of Dante now lost, 54 «., 57 «.,

86 »., 91 »., 251-2 ; his Dialogus ad Petrum Histrum, 54 n. ; acquaint-

ance with Dante's great-grandson Leonardo, 70 n. ; mentions TaddeoGaddi's portrait of Dante, 141 ; Kirkup's statement that he mentionsGiotto's portrait of Dante, 267 ; editio princeps of his Vita di Dante,

277 ; English translations of, 277.Brunswick, royal house of ; descended from the Guelfs, i.

Bryce, James ; analysis of De Monarchia in his Holy Roman Empire,235-8.

Bubwith, Nicholas (Bp. of Bath and Wells, 1407-1424) ; founded and en-

dowed Cathedral Library at Wells, 224 «. ; at Council of Constanceinstigated G. da Serravalle to write commentary on D. C, 224-5.

19

290 _^INDEX

Buckingham, Duke of (1592-1628) ; anecdote of Dante quoted to, by Lord

Keeper Williams, 125 n.

Bulletin Italien, 221 n.

Bullettino della Societa Dantesca Italiana. See Societa Dantesca.

Bunbury, Mrs. F. ]. ; account of Bargello in 1852, 132 n. ; translation

from Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, 207-8 ; from his Comento, 209-11

;

translation of Balbo's Vita di Dante, 281.

Buonccnte da Montefeltro. See Montefeltro.

Buonconvento ; death of Henry VII at, g6.

Buondelmonti, Buondelmonte dei ; murder of, 5-7, 8, 34.

Burnetto ; Dante's uncle, 37 «., 42 ; in charge of Florentine Carroccio at

Montaperti, 42.

Burney, Charles (1726-1814) ; translated Inferno, 218.

Burning alive ;punishment of, 84 n.

Buti, Francesco da (1324-1406) ; commentary on the D. C, 48 »., 223,

224, 273, 276 ; date of, 224 ; mentions tradition that Dante joined

Franciscan Order, 48 ». ; lectures at Pisa on D. C, 224; notice of

Dante, 276.Butler, A. J.; translation of i3. C. with notes, 220; translation of Scartaz-

zini's Dante Handbuch, 250 »., 281.Byron, Lord (1788-1824) ; translated Francesca da Rimini episode from

D. C, 220 ; version of Purg, viii. 1-6 in Don Juan, 221 ; interest

in publication of Taaffe's Comment on D. C, 229.

Cacciaguida ; great-great-grandfather of Dante, 38 n., 40 ; mention of, in

documents, 40 n. ; his father Adamo, 40 ; his history related in the

Commedia, 40-1 ; baptized in San Giovanni, 40, 42 ; his brothers

Moronto and Eliseo, 40 ; his wife Alighiera, 40 ; military services

and death, 40 ; situation of his house in Florence, 40-1 ; his sons

Preitenitto and Alighiero, 40-1 ; descendants, 41-2 ;" foretells

"

Dante's exile, 88, 90, 91.

Caccianimici family of Bologna; member of, supposed to figure as

Polyphemus in poetical correspondence between Dante and G. del

Virgilio, 256 n.

Calendars, Arabian and Syrian ; utilized by Dante in V. N., 47 »., 48 «.,

67, 165, 170.

Calimala; street in Florence connecting Mercato Vecchio and MercatoNuovo, 31 «.

Cambridge (U.S.A.) Dante Society ; Annual Reports, 82 »., 91 »., 161 n.,

221 »., 224 «.

Cammino, Gherardo da (d. 1306) ; reference to, in Convivio, 175.Campaldino, battle of (1289) ; Tuscan Ghibellines defeated by Florentine

Guelfs, 53-62, 67 ; Dante takes part in, 53-4, 57, 61, 62, 74 ; alleged

account of, by Dante, 57 «., 251 ; Villani's account of, 57-60; Buon-conte da Montefeltro killed in, 60, 61-2 ; reminiscences of, in D. C,61, 6a.

Campi, G. ; commentary on D. C, 229.Can Grande. See Scala.

Canaccio, Bernardo ; friend of Dante at Ravenna, loo n. ; his epitaph onDante, 105-6 ; supposed until recently to have be§n written by Dante

INDEX 291

himself, ro6 ; identity of writer discovered in MS. in Bodleian, 106

;

translated by Fynes Moryson, 106 n,

Cancellieri family of Pistoja ; Black and White factions originate fromfeuds of, 75-7.

Cancellieri, Focaccia de' ; occasions hostilities between two branches of

Cancellieri family, 75-6.

Canolati, Bartolommeo ; dealings of Visconti with, as a sorcerer, 101-3.

Cante de' Gabrielli. See Gabrielli.

Canterbury ; MS. of Convivio at, 192 n.

Canzoni e Madrigali di Dante, i6o.

Canzoniere. See Lyrical Poems.Caponsacchi, Cilia di Gherardo de' ; wife of Folco Portinari, 46 ». ; her

eleven children, 46 ».-47 «.

Caprona ; Dante present at capitulation of, 62.

Carbone, G. ; translation of Blanc's Vocabolario Dantesco, 230.

Cardinals, Italian ; Dante's letter to, 97, 249-50.

Carducci, G. ; Rime di M. Cino da Pistoja, 49 ». , 50 n., 108 n.

Carlyle, J. A. (1801-1879) ;printed Italian text of Inferno with his trans-

lation, 216,

Carmina Illustrium Poetarum Italorum; Dante's Eclogues first printed

in, 253-Carpenter, G. R.; Episode of the Donna Pietosa, 161 n.

Carpentras; conclave at, 97, 249.

Carroccio, Florentine, 15 ; Villani's account of, 17-18 ; at battle of Monta-perti, 21 ; capture of, by Sienese, 24 ; flagstaffs preserved in Cathedralof Siena, 24 n. ; Dante's uncle in charge of, at Montaperti, 42.

Cartolario, A. ; notice of Dante, 276.

Cary, H. F. (1772-1844) ;printed Italian text of Inferno for first time in

England, 215 ; his translation of D. C, 2ig ; notes on D. C, 229.

Casentino ; Dante in, 92-3.

Casini, T. ; commentary on D. C, 36 «., 229; edition of V. N., 166 »,,

167 «. ; chapter divisions in, 167 «.

Cassino, Monte. See Monte Cassino.

Castagno, Andrea del (c. 1390-1457) ; his representation of Dante, 143 n.

Casts from human face ; art of taking, known to the ancients, 135 «.

Cat, anecdote of Dante and, 156-7.

Catalan; translation of D. C. in, 217.

Cavalcanti, Cavalcante, 33-4.

Cavalcanti, Guido (c. 1255-1300) ; marries the daughter of Farinata degli

Uberti, 34; Dante's firiend, 36 ?»., 45, 47 »., 50, 81, 159, 164, 170;replies to Dante's first sonnet, 45, 50, 159 ; his reply translated byRossetti, 159 K. ; friend of Manetto Portinari, to whom he addressed

a sonnet, 47 n.; poetical correspondence with Dante, 50-1; one of

the Whites, 81 ; exiled through Dante's means, 81 ; death of, 81-2;

his last poem, 82 «. ; Taddeo Gaddi's portrait of, in Santa Croce, 141

;

Dante's V. N. dedicated to, 164 ; his lady, Giovanna, 170.

Cavalcaselle, G. B. ; version of Kirkup's letter to the Spectator on the

Giotto portrait of Dante, 133 n. ; opinion as to the portraits of Dante,

142 n.

Cavicciuli, Antonio di Baldinaccio de' ; member of the Adimari family of

Florence, rescued from death by Dante, 43 n.

Cayley, C. B. (1823-1883) ; translation of D. C, with notes, 229,

292 INDEX

Cecco d' Ascoli (1257-J327) ;Quirini's defence of Dante's niemory against

imputations of, 108 ; anecdote of Dante and, 156-7.Cerchi family of Florence; leaders of White Party, 76; feud with Donati,

77-81.

Cerchi, Ricoverino de'; wounded in broil in Florence, 81,

Cerchi, Vieri de' ; at battle of Campaldino, 58, 61, 76 ; leader of Whitesin Florence, 76, 79, 80.

Charles I of Anjou (1220-1285); defeats Manfred at Benevento, 28-9, 31,

34> 35) 36 ; receives lordship of Florence for three years, 34.Charles II of Anjou (1243- 1309) ; in Florence, 55 ; aids Florentines, 56;

mentioned in De Vulg. Eloq., 241 ; supposed to figure in Bargellofresco containing portrait of Dante, 268.

Charles ofValois (1270-1325) ; representative of Boniface VIII in Florence,82-3, 124.

Charles Mattel of Hungary (1271-1295) ; Dante's acquaintance with, 140 «.Charles the Great {742-814) ; Dante's error as to coronation of, 237 n.

Chaucer, Geoffrey (c. 1340-1400) ; translations firom D. C. in his works,218.

Checcacci, G. ; opinion as to portraits of Dante, 142 b.

Chiswick Press ; single volume edition of D, C. printed by Whittinghamsat, 216.

Church, Dean; quoted, 3-5.

Church, F. J. ; translation of De Monorchia, 239 n.

Cialuffi, Lapa di Chiarissimo ; Dante's stepmoflier, 37 »., 38 ; second wifeof Alighiero, 38 ; mention of, in document, 38 n.

Ciccarelli, L. ; first editor of Boccaccio's commentary on D. C, 223, 272.Cicchetti, pietro; editor of first single volume English edition of ZJ. C,

216 ; his mistaken claim in respect of it, 216.Cicero; De Amicitia Studied by Dante, 65, 67, 182.Cinelli, Giovanni (d. 1706) ; biographical notice of Dante, 136 ; reference

to mask of Dante, 136 ; Kirkup's statement that he mentions Giotto'sportrait of Dante, 267.

Cino da Pistoja (1270-c. 1337) ; friend of Dante, 48 ; canzone on death ofBeatrice, 48-9, 107; translated by Rossetti, 49; canzone on deathof Dante, 50, 107-8 ; replies to Dante's first sonnet, 50, 159 ; his re-

ply translated by Rossetti, 159 ».; poetical correspondence withDante, 50, 107; Dante's letter to, on subject of love, 50, 248.

Cittadini, Celso (d. 1627) ; Italian translation oi De Vulg. Eloq., 245.Civezza, M. da ; joint editor of Serravalle's commentary on D. C, 273.Clement IV (Pope, 1264-1268) ; invites Charles of Anjou to take posses-

sion of Sicily, 28.

Clement V (Pope, 1305-13x4) ; death of, 97, 249, 250.Codronchi, Mgr., Archbishop of Ravenna; mention of the hiding of

Dante's remains, 114.

CoUe ; editions of Costa's commentary on D. C. published at, 228 n.Co'mmedia; Dante's reference to in V. N., 48, 193 ; dedications of, 92 ».,

195 ; completed at Ravenna, 100 ; divergent opinions in it and Con-vivio, 175; Italian language brought to highest perfection in, 176;account of, 193-206 ; by Boccaccio, 193-5 ; by Villani, 195 ; echoesof, in ViUam, 195 ; its origin, 193-4 ; Dante's account of its subjectand aim in letter to Can Grande, 195-6, 250 ; its title, 196 «. ; numberof lines in, 197, 213 ; date of action of, 197 ; duration of action, 197-8

;

INDEX 293

dates of composition, 198 ; scheme of, 198-206 ; Boccaccio's story of

lost cantos of Paradiso, 206-8 ; and of unfinished Inferno, 209-11

;

why written in Italian, 211-12; Dante and his rhymes, 213 ; statistics

of MSS., 213; of printed editions, 213-14, 226; editio pyinceps, 172,

191, 214 ; French editions, 214 ; selections printed in England, 214-15 ;

English editions, 215-17; translations, 217-18; English translations,

218-221 ; statistics of, 219-20 ; lectures on, by Boccaccio, 223 ; byBenvenuto da Imola, 223, 225; by Buti, 223-4; by Filippo Villani,

250; commentaries on, 41 »., 70, 98 «., loi »., 103 »., 131 «., 146-7,

221-9, 271-4; Cent. XIV, 221-4, 271-3 ; Cent. XV, 224-6, 273 ; Cent.

XVI, 226, 273-4; Cent. XVIII, 227; Cent. XIX, 227-9; Englishcommentaries, 229-30; indices, 227, 230; dictionaries, 230; con-

cordance, 230 ; the work quoted, 21, 22, 24, 27, 30, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,

41, 42, 48 «., 51, 55, 56, 61-3, 64, 69, 71, 84, 89, 90, 91, 92, 97, 100,

loi »., 129 «., 138, 140, 146, 175 «., ig6 «., 197, 211, 221, 234 n.

Compagni, Dino (c. 1260-1326) ; his Chronicle quoted, 77-8.

Conrad the Salic {Emperor, 1024-1039) ;progenitor of Swabian Em-

perors, 2.

Conrad III (Emperor, 1138-1152); defeats Henry of Bavaria at Weins-berg, 2.

Conradin of Hohenstaufen (1251-1268) ; intrigues of Guelfs with, 28.

Constance, Council of (1414-1418) ; G. da Serravalle at instigation of twoEnglish bishops writes commentary on D. C. at, 225.

Convito; incorrect title ofDante's Convivio first used by Biscioni, 173 »., 191.

Convivio ; reference to Dante's exile in, 88-9, 91, 175, 177 ; Kirkup makesdrawing of Giotto's portrait of Dante in copy of 1531 edition of,

134 ». ; reference to V. N. in, 161 ; Biscioni's edition, 172, 173 n,, igi

;

account of the work, 173-92 ; correct title of, 173 »., 191 ; editio

princeps of, 173 »., 191 ; Cent. XVI editions, 173 «., igi ; MSS. of,

173 »., 191-2 ; attempts to identify missing canzoni in, 174 ; division

into chapters, 174 ; Villani's account of, 174 ; Boccaccio's, 174-5

;

date of work, 175 ;perhaps composed at Bologna, 175 ; meaning of

name, 175 ; wherein it differs from V. N. 175, 176 ; reason whywritten in Italian, 175, 177-8 ; analysis of work, 176-91 ; English

translations of, 176 »., 192 n. ; printed editions of, 191 ; critical

editions, 191 ; supposed reference to De Vulg. Bloq. in, 241 ; the

work quoted, 42 «., 48 n., 65-6, 66 »., 69 «., 88-9, 161, 173 «., 174 n.,

175 »., 197 «., 234-5 «•

Corbinelli, Jacopo (fl. 1570-1590) ;printed editio pyinceps of De Vulg.

Eloq., 245, 246, 276, 280 ; first printed Serdini's notice of Dante, 276 ;

his notice of Dante, 280.

Cordeliers ; Franciscans so called, 48 n.

Cornell University Library ; copy of editio princeps of Quaestio de Aquaet Terra in, 257 ».

Corrall, C. ;printer of Pickering's diminutive edition of D. C, 215.

Corsi, Domenico Maria (Cardinal, 1686-1697) ; restores Dante's tomb at

Ravenna, 107 ; engraving of tomb as restored by him, 107 «.

Corso Donati. See Donati.

Costa, Paolo ; commentary on D. C, 228 ; editions of, 228 n.

Credo, Dante's; alleged origin of, 150-2; MSS. of, 259-60: assigned bysome to Antonio da Ferrara, 260 ; editions of, 260 ; English transla-

tion of, 260 ». ; another Credo, 260 ».

294 INDEX

Cremona ; besieged by Henry VII, 94. r t-> oCronica Generate dal 1321 al 1470; anonymous notice of Dante m, 278.

D' Ancona e Bacci ; Manuale delta Letteratura Italiana, 72 ».

Daniello, Bernardino (d. c. 1560) ; commentary on D. C, 226, 274, 279 ;

notice of Dante, 279.

Danish; translation oiD. C. in, 217.

Dante Alighieri. See Alighieri, Dante.

Dante, Jacopo di. See Alighieri, Jacopo.

Dante, Pietro di. See Alighieri, Pietro.

Dante da Majano (fl. 1290) ; replies to Dante's first sonnet, 159 ; reply

translated by Rossetti, 159 n.

Dante e il sua Secolo, 98 n.

Dante e la Lunigiana, 247 «.

" Dantinus" at Padua, doubtfully identified with Dante, 91 n.

Dartmouth, Countess of (Frances Finch, 1761-1838) ; second English

edition of D. C. dedicated to, 215.

Davidsohn, R. ; Geschichte von Florenz, 40 «.

Dayman, J. ; notes on D. C, 229.

Del Balzo, C. ; Poesie di Mille Autori intorno a Dante Alighieri, 276 «.

Del Lungo, I. ; Beatrice nella Vita e nella Poesia del Secolo xiii, 43 «.,

46 «. ; Dante ne' tempi di Dante, 51 ».; Dell' Bsilio di Dante, 71 ».,

84 «., 95 «., 98 »., 112 »., 113 n., 115 ».; Dal Secolo e dal Poema di

Dante, 74 n ; Dim Compagni e la sua Cronica, 97 «. ; monographs

on Dante, 281.

Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, 275, 276 «., 278.

Delia Corte, Girolamo (fl. c. 1560) ; notice of Dante, 279.

Delia Torre, A. ; critical text of Dante's letter to Florentine ftiend, 99 n.

Dino Compagni. See Compagni.Dino Perini. See Perini.

Dionisi, Giovanni Giacomo (1724-1808) ; first printed Dante s letter to

Florentine friend, 250 ; reprinted Dante's Eclogues in his Aneddoti,

253.D'lsraeli, Isaac (1766-1848) ; anecdote of Dante in Curiosities of Litera-

ture, 156-7 ; subscriber to Rossetti's Comento Analitico alia D. C,

216.

Divina Commedia. See Commedia.

Dolce, Lodovico (1508-1568) ; notice of Dante, 279.

Domenichelli, T.;joint editor of Serravalle's commentary on D. C, 273.

Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491); his representation of Dante, 143;

formerly attributed to Orcagna, 143 «. ; notice of, by William Barker,

143 », ; inscription on, translated by Ed. Wright, 143 n.

Dominican Schools of Santa Maria Novella, 66 ».

Donati family of Florence; their houses back to back with those of

Alighieri, 67 ».; leaders of Black Party, 76 ; feud with Cerchi, 77-81.

Donati, Corso (d. 1308) ; Podesta of Pistoja, 58 ; at battle of Campaldino,

58, 59, 61, 67, 76 ; leaders of Blacks in Florence, 76, 80, 83 ; Giotto's

portrait of, 131, 268, 269.

Donati, Forese (d. 1296) ; friend of Dante, 39, 51, 67 ;poetical correspond-

ence with Dante, 39, 51. 86.

INDEX 295

Donati, Gemma; Dante's wife, 37 «., 67; her family, 67; Boccaccio'sdescription of her, 67-8 ; Dante's relations with, 67-g ; identified bysome with the " donna gentile " of V. N., 67 «., 161 ; separation fromDante, 6g, 71, 88 ». ; survives Dante, 71 ; conceals Dante's writings

when he was condemned, 209-10 ; claims back her dowry from Dante'sconfiscated property, 210.

Donati, Manetto; Dante's father-in-law, 67, 86; security for debt of

Dante, 86, 87.

Donati, Maria ; Dante's mother-in-law, 67, 86 ; her will, 86.

Doni, Anton Francesco (1513-1574) ; first printed Italian translation of

Dante's letter to Henry VII, 249 ; alleged letter of Dante to GuidoNovello da Polenta first printed by, 2S1 «.

Donkey-driver, Dante and, 150.

Dupr£, G. ; opinion as to portraits of Dante, 142 n.

Dutch ; translation of D. C. in, 217.

Eastlake, Charles Lock (1793-1865) ; friend of Bezzi, who helped to dis-

cover the Bargello portrait of Dante, 267.

Eclogues of Dante, 100, 172 ; account of, 252-3 ; Boccaccio's mention of,

252 ; MSS. of, 252 ; Latin commentary on, 252, 255 »., 256 n.

;

editions of, 253 ; analysis of, 253-6 ; English translations of, 253 ».

Edinburgh ; English editions oiD. C, published at, 216.

Edizioni del naso of D. C, 226 n.

Edward III (1327-1377) ; failure of Bardi banking house through his de-

fault, 46 n.

Elisei ; Dante's supposed descent from, 38, 41 n. ; situation of their housein Florence, 41 n.

Eliseo; ancestor of Dante, 38, 40.

Eloquentia, De Vulgari. See Vulgari Eloquentia, De.Empoli ; Ghibelline council at, 27.

England ; supposed visit of Dante to, 92-3 ; editions of D. C. printed in,

215-17.

English commentaries on D. C, 229-30.

English editions of D.C., 215-17.

English Historical Review ; account of opening of Dante's tomb, Ii6-r7;

article on unknown biographical notice of Dante, 278 ».

English translations of Canzoniere, 160 n. ; of Vita Nuova, 173 n. ; of

Convivio, 176 n., 192 «. ; of D. C, 218-20; of Ugolino episode, 220;

of Francesca da Rimini, 220 ; of Purg. viii. 1-6, 220-1 ; of DeMonarchia, 238 n.-g n. ; of De Vulgari Eloquentia, 245 «. ; of LatinLetters, 25 1 «. ; oiLatin Eclogues, 253 ». ; oiQuaestio de Aqua et Terra,

258 ». ; ofApocryphal Works, 260 ». ; of Villani's notice of Dante, 275 ;

of Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, 275 ; of Bruni's Vita di Dante, 277.

Epicycle ; definition of, 204 n.

Ercole, P. ; Guido Cavalcanti e le sue Rime, 47 «., 50 b., 82 n.

Escorial ; MS. of G. da Serravalle's commentary on D. C. in, 224 »., 277 n.

F

Faggiuola, Uguccione della (d. 1320) ; Ghibelline leader, 92 «., 97, 98

;

alleged letter of Frate Ilario to, concerning Dante, 92 «., 248, 263-6;

296 INDEX

alleged dedication oi Inferno to, 92 ». ; captures Lucca, 97 ; defeats

Tuscan Guelfs at Monte Catini, 98, 253.

Faltoni, Perseo; drawing of the Giotto portrait of Dante, 270 ».

Fanfani, P.; editor ofcommentary ofAnonimo Fiorentino on D. C, 224, 273,

Farinata degli Uberti. See Uberti.

Farinelli, A. ; Dante in Ispagna, 224 n., 277 n.

Fauno, Lucio ; Italian translation of Pope Pius II's compendium of

Flavio Biondo's Historiae ah incUnato Romano Imperio, 277.

Fay, E. A. ; Concordance of the D. C, 230.

Ferrara ; Cacciaguida's wife probably native of, 40.

Ferretti, Giampietro (1482-1557) ; notice of Dante, 279.

Fiammazzo, A. ; editor of Graziolo de' Bambaglioli's Latin commentaryon Inferno, 221, 271.

Ficino, Marsilio (1433-1499) IItalian translation of De Monarchia, 238

;

first printed by Fraticelli, 238 «. ; Italian translation of Dante's letter

to the Princes and Peoples of Italy attributed to, 248.

Fiduccio de' Milotti. See Milotti.

Filelfo, Giovanni Mario (1426-1480) ; mentions letters of Dante, 252 ; Vita

Dantis, 252 »., 278; Kirkup's statement that he mentions Giotto's

portrait of Dante, 267.

Flaccus lUyricus. See Francowitz.

Florence;proposed destruction of, by Ghibellines, 27 ; saved by Farinata

degli Uberti, 27 ; Vendetta in, 41-2 ; baptisms in, 43 ». ; hospital of

Santa Maria Nuova, 47 ; Blacks and Whites in, 76-81 ; besieged by

Henry VII, 95 ; edition of Dante's lyrical poems printed at, 160, 172

;

editio princeps of V. N., 160, 172 ; Biscioni's edition, 172, 191

;

Barbi's critical edition, 173 ; first English translation of V. N., 173 n, ;

editio princeps of Convivio, 173 «., 191; editions of D. C, 196 m.,

214, 227 »., 228 n. ; Landino's commentary on D. C. first printed at,

195 »., 214, 225-6, 273 f Boccaccio's lectures on D. C. at, 223 ; Gelli's

lectures, 226 ; F. Villani's lectures, 250 ; Rajna's critical edition of

De Vulg. Eloq. printed at, 245 n., 246.

Florentine reckoning, 28 «., 36 n. ; method of indicating old and modernstyles, 36 «.

Florentines ; Dante's letter to, 93-4, 248-g ; Boccaccio's rebuke to, log-

112 ; attempt to get possession of Dante's remains, 112-15.

Folco Portinari. See Portinari.

Foligno; editio princeps oiD. C. printed at, 214.

Fondora, Cosciorino ; husband of Gentucca Morla, 97.

Forese Donati. See Donati.

Foresti, Jacopo Filippo (1434-1520) ; notice of Dante, 278 ; Italian trans-

lations of, 278.

Forli ; Dante at, 90, 92.

Foscolo, Ugo (1778-1827) ; edition of D. C. 216, 228 ; Discorso sul Testo

delta D. C, 216, 228.

Foxe, John (1516-1587) ;probably saw editio princeps of De Monarchia

through the press, 239 ; volume containing it quoted in Booi of

Martyrs, 239.Francesca da Rimini episode from D. C. ; English translations of, 220.

Francesco Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Francis, St. ; legend as to rocks at La Vernia in connection with his re-

cei\ang the stigmata, 48 ».

INDEX 297

Franciscan Order ; tradition that Dante joined it for a time, 48 «. ; saluta-

tion of, given by Statius and returned by Virgil in Purgatory, 48 n.

Francowitz, Mathias Flach (d. 1575) ; notice of Dante, 279.Frangipani of Rome ; Dante's reputed descent from, 37.Fraticelli, P. ; Vita di Dante, 67 »., 72 »., 73 »., 266, 281 ; commentary

on D. C, 229; edition of De Monarchia, 231 m., 238 ». ; chapterdivisions in, 231 «. ; first printed Ficino's translation, 238 n. ; edition

of Boccaccio's commentary on D. C, 272.Frederick II (Emperor, 1212-1250) ; helps to repel Guelfs from Florence,

7-10 ; called by Dante the last Emperor of the Romans, 234 n.

Frederick II (King of Sicily, 1296-1337) ; Paradiso said to have beendedicated to, 92 n., 266.

French; translations of D. C. in, 217.Frere, John Hookham (1769-1846) ; Rossetti's Comento Analitico alia

D. C. dedicated to, 216.

Frescobaldi, Dino ; sends first seven cantos oi Inferno to Moroello Mala-spina, 210-11. ;

Frullani e Gargani ; Delia Casa di Dante, 40 n.

Gabrielli, Cante de' ; Podesta of Florence, 83 ; sentences Dante to

banishment, and afterwards to death, 83-4, 88, 98.

Gaddi, Taddeo (c. 1300-1366) ; portrait of Dante in Santa Croce, 141

;

destroyed by Vasari, 141.

Gaetana CTana) Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Galleria di Minerva, 250 n.

Gardner, E. See Wicksteed and Gardner.Gargani, G. See Frullani.

Gargonza ; meeting of exiled Whites at, 90.

Garrow, Joseph (fl. 1840); translation of F. N., 173 k.

Gelli, Giovan Battista (1498-1563) ; lectures on D. C, 226, 274 ; statementas to commentary on D. C. by GiambuUari, 226 n.

Gemma Donati. See Donati.

Genoa ; Henry VII at, 95 ; King Robert of Naples besieged in, 253.

Gentucca ; Dante's attachment to, 71, 97 ; identified as wife of Cosciorino

Fondora of Lucca, 97 », Se« Morla.

Geri del Bello ; first cousin of Dante's father, 41 ; murder of, by one of

Sacchetti, 42, 147 ; Dante's meeting with, in He!l, 42 ; his murderavenged, 42.

German; translations of D.C. in, 217; translation of Dante's lyrical

poems in, 247 «.

Gherardesca, Ugolino della (d. 1289); leader of Pisan Guelfs, 55; im-

prisonment and death in Tower of Famine at Pisa, 55, 62.

Ghibellines ; expelled from Florence, 14-15 ; retire to Siena, 15-16 ; helped

by King Manfred, 16-17 ! victorious at Montaperti, 21-5 ; hold council

at Empoli, 27; return to Florence, 27-8; masters of Tuscany, 28;

downfall after death of Manfired, 28-35 ; defeated at Campaldino, 53-

60.

GiambuUari, Pier Francesco (1495-1555) ; commentary on D. C, 226 n.

;

quoted by Gelli, 226 ». ; De 'I sito, forma, e misure dello Inferno,

226 n.

298 INDEX

Gianni, Lapo (fl. 1300) ; friend of Dante and Guido Cavalcanti, 51, 165 «,

Giannini, C. ; editor of Buti's commentary on D. C, 224, 273.Giardino, Piero di; friend of Dante at Ravenna, 100 »., 103 «., iig;

supplies Boccaccio with information about Dante, 103 »., 119 ; his

account of Jacopo di Dante's dream as to the lost cantos of the

Paradiso, 207-8.

Gillum, Col. W. J. ; presents Kirkup's drawing of Giotto's portrait of

Dante to Museo Nazionale at Florence, 134 ».

Gillum, Mrs. ; account of how Kirkup made drawing of Giotto's portrait

of Dante, 134 n.

GiornaU Dantesco, 71 »., loi n.

Giornale del Centenario di Dante, 142 «., 143 n.

Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, 41 «.

Giotto (1266-1337) ; mentioned in D. C, 129 «. ; portrait of Dante, 128-35,

139-40, 141 ; account of, by Lord Lindsay, 129, 130 n. ; probable dateof, 130, 130 n. ; references to, by F. Villani, 130 ; Antonio Pucci,

130 ».; G. Manetti, 130-1; Vasari, 131, 132; Landino, I3i«.; Moreni,132 ; his portraits of Brunetto Latino and Corso Donati, 131 ; redis-

covery of fresco containing portraits, 132-3, 135 »., 267-70; Kirkup'sdrawing of the Dante portrait, 134-5 1 Taddeo Gaddi's portrait of, in

Santa Croce, 141.Giovanna ; lady of Guido Cavalcanti, 170.Giovanni dei Bertoldi. See Serravalle.

Giovanni del Virgilio. See Virgilio.

Giovanni, San, Baptistery of, at Florence ; attempted destruction of, byGhibellines, lo-ii; saved by Niccolo Pisano, 12 ».; Cacciagiiidabaptized in, 40 ; Dante baptized in, 42 ; Dante breaks font in, 42-3

;

fonts in, 43 «. ; Villani's estimate of baptisms in, 43 n.Giovio, Paolo (1485-1552) ; notice of Dante, 279.Giuliani, G. B. ; edition of De Monarchia, 231 n. ; chapter divisions in,

231 71.

Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of (1391-1447) ; presents copy of Giovannida Serravalle's commentary on D..C. to University of Oxford, 224 n.

Gonzaga, Luigi Valenti (Cardinal, 1776) ; restores Dante's tomb at

Ravenna, 107, 114.

Gower, John (c. 1330-1408) ; anecdote of Dante in Confessio Amantis,145-6.

Grauert, Prof. H. ; identification of the notice of Dante in 1494 edition of

Speculum Historiale, 278 «.

Gray, Thomas (1716-1771) ; translated Ugolino episode firom D. C, 218

;

first line oi Elegy inspired by Purg. viii. 6, 220-1.Greek ; Dante ignorant of, 66 ; translation of D. C. in, 217.Gregory XV (Pope, 1621-1623) ; receives MS. of Dante's letters and De

Monarchia from Maximilian of Bavaria, 247.Grenoble ; MS. of De Vulg. Eloq. at, 246.Gualdrada, la buona; her sister the wife of Alighiero, Dante's great-

grandfather, 41.

Guardamorto, tower at Florence ; destroyed by Ghibellines, 11-12.Guelfs and Ghibellines, 1-35; origin of names, 1-2; introduction into

Italy, 2 ; characteristics of the two parties, 2-5 ; first appearance in

Florence, 5-7 ; distinctive banners adopted by, 14-15 ; varying for-

tunes of (1215-1267), 7-35.

INDEX 299

Guelfs; expulsion of, from Florence, 8 ; return Of, 12 ; defeated at Monta-perti, 21-5, 39 ; retire to Lucca, 26 ; expelled thence, 28 ; regain their

ascendancy, 28-35; Dante's Guelf connexions, 36-7, 39; Guelf victoryat Campaldino, 53-60 ; Black and White Guelfs, 75-83 ; Dante oneof the White Guelfs, 82 ; Tuscan Guelfs defeated at Monte Catini byUguccione della Faggiuola, 98.

Guido Cavalcanti. See Cavalcanti.Guido da Pisa; Latin commentary on Inferno, 222, 271 ; Italian transla-

tion of, 222, 271.

Guido Guerra (d. 1272); leader of Florentine Guelfs, 20-1, 29.

Guido Novello, Count (d. 1293) ; Ghibelline Podesti of Florence, 27

;

commands Ghibelline expedition against Lucca, 28 ; murmurs against,

in Florence, 30; alarm after Manfred's death, 31 ; fails to repress the

discontented Florentines, 32 ; flies from Florence, 33 ; Podestjl ofArezzo, 56 ; his flight at battle of Campaldmo, 59.

Guido Novello da BattifoUe ; Dante's host at Poppi, 93.Guido Novello da Polenta (d. c. 1325) ; invites Dante to Ravenna, 99

;

sends him on embassy to Venice, 103, 155 ; his honourable burial of

Dante, 104-5, log, 116 ; leaves tomb incomplete, 105-6, 136 ;probably

had cast taken from Dante's face, 135-6 ; alleged letter of Dante to,

from Venice, 251 ; figures as lolas in poetical correspondence betweenDante and G. del Virgilio, 255-6.

H

Hadrian I (Pope, 772-795^; Dante's error as to coronation of Charles the

Great by, 237 «.

Hallam, Henry (1777-1859) ; subscriber to Rossetti's Comento Analitico

alia D. C, 216.

Hallam, Robert (Bp. of Salisbury, 1408-1417) ; at Council of Constanceinstigated Giovanni da Serravalle to write commentary on D. C, 225 ;

Chancellor of University of Oxford, 225.

Hamilton, G. L. ; notes on G. da Serravalle and his commentary on D. C,224 ».

Hardouin, Jean (1646-1729); Doutes sar I'Age du Dante, 279 n.

Harington, Sir John (1561-1612) ; anecdote of Dante in his Epigrams, 155 ;

lines from D. C. translated by, 218.

Haselfoot, F. K. H. ; translation of D. C, with notes, 229.

Hayley, William (1745-1820) ;printed Italian text of Inf. i.-iii. in notes to

Essay on Epic Poetry, 215 ; translation in terza rima of same in

same, 215, 218.

Haym, Niccola Francesco (d. 1730) ; Biblioteca Xtaliana, 276 «., 277 «.,

278 »., 279 «.

Hebrew; translation oi Inferno in, 217.

Hecker, 0. ; Boccaccio-Funde, 45 ».

Heidelberg ; MS. of Dante's letters and De Monarchia removed from, byTilly, 247.

Henry IV (Emperor, 1056-1106) ; confers Duchy of Bavaria upon Welfs, 2.

Henry V (Emperor, 1106-1125); succeeded by Lothair of Saxony, 2.

Henry VI (Emperor, iigo-1197) ; brother of Philip, Duke of Swabia, 2.

Henry VII (Emperor, 130S-1313); enters Italy, 93; resisted by Florence,

93-41 95-6 ; besieges Cremona, 94 ; Dante's letter to, 94, 249 ; Dante

300 INDEX

present at his coronation at Milan, 94 ; issues edicU against Florence,

95 ; besieges Florence, 95 ; raises siege, g6 ; death at Buonconvento,

96 ; rejoicings of Florentines at, 96-7 ; reference to, in De Monarchia,

234 «.; coronation at Aix, 235 ». ; death of, suggested to Dante by

G. del Virgilio as theme for Latin poem, 253.

Henry, Aurelia; translation oiDe Monarchia, 239 n.

Herbst, Johann. See Oporinus..

Heywood, Thomas (c. 1575-0. 1650); extract from D.C. prmted mHierarchic of the Blessed Angels, 214. .

Hierarchies, Celestial ; Dante's different opinions as to arrangement of, mConvivio and D. C, 175.

Hillard, K. ; translation of Convivio, 192 «.

Hislorisches yahrbuch, 378 »,

Hohenstaufen ; imperial line, 2 ; Conradin of, 28.

Homer;quoted at second-hand in V. N., 66.

Horace;quoted in V. N., 66.

Hornby, C. H. St. J. ; editions of D. C, and whole works of Dante,

printed by, 217.

Howard, Nathaniel (fl. 1800) ; translated /m/swo, 219 ; notes on Inferno, 229.

Howell, A. G. F. ; translation of De Vulg. Eloq., 24.1 »., 245 n.

Huggins, William (1696-1761) ; author of earliest recorded English trans-

lation of D. C, 218.

Hume, Joseph (1777-1855) ; translated Inferno, 219 ; notes on Inferno, 229.

Humphrey, Duke. See Gloucester.

Hungarian ; translation of D. C. in, 217.

Hungary, King of; alleged letter of Dante to, 252.

I

Icelandic ; selections from D. C. translated into, 217.

Ilario, Frate ; alleged letter of, to Uguccione della Faggiuola, concerning

Dante's visit to monastery of Santa Croce del Corvo, 92 ».; the

letter known to Boccaccio, 212 n. ; MS. containing it owned by

Boccaccio, 248 ; translation of, 263-6.

Ildefonso da San Luigi, Padre; Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, 275,

276 n., 278.

Imbriani, V. ; Studi Danteschi, 86 «., 91 «., 280.

Imola, Benvenuto da. See Rambaldi.

Inferno ; alleged dedication to Uguccione della Faggiuola, 92 n. ; number

of lines in, 197; date of composition, 198 ; scheme of, 198-200; Boc-

caccio's account of recovery of seven first cantos of, 20g-ii ; English

translations of, 218-20 ; Cent. XIV commentaries on, 221-2 ; Boc-

caccio's unfinished commentary on, 223.

Inquisition, and ediiio princeps of V. N., 172-3.

Inquisitor, Dante and, 150-2.

lolas ; name under which Guido da Polenta figures in poetical correspond-

ence between Dante and G. del Virgilio, 255-6.

Jackson, W. W. ; translation of Convivio, 176 n., 192 ». ; summary of

contents utilized, 176-91.

INDEX 301

Jacopo Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Jahrbuck der Deutschen Dante-Gesellschafi, 270 n.

Jena; edition of Lombardi's commentary on D. C. published at, 227 «.

Jesi ; edition of D. C. printed at, 214.

John I, Marquis of Montferrat. See Montferrat.John XXII (Pope, 1316-1334); attempt on life of, by Visconti of Milan,

101-3 ; Dante's aid invoked as a sorcerer, 102 ; uncle of CardinalBertrand du Pouget, 232 m.

Jubilee of 1300; date of action of D. C, 197.

K

Kannegiesser, K. L. ; translation of Dante's lyrical poems, 247 n.

Kirkup, Seymour (1788-1880) ; helps to discover Bargello portrait of

Dante, 132; account of itbefore restoration, 133-4 ; facsimile, tracing,

and drawing of it, 134-5 ; sale of his library, 134 n. ; account of the

three masks of Dante, 136-7 ; letter to Charles Lyell as to mask,136 B. ; presents mask to Oxford Dante Society, 137 n. »• letters to G.Rossetti as to discovery of Bargello portrait, 267-70.

Kleptomania ; anecdote of Dante and, 156.Kraus, F. X. ; Dante, Sein Leben und Sein Werk, 270 n.

Lacaita, G. F. ; editor of Benvenuto da Imola's commentary on D. C,223, 272.

La Vernia ; tradition as to upheaval of rocks of, at Crucifixion, 48 n.

Lagia; lady mentioned in Son. xxxii., 165 «.

Lana, Jacopo della (d. aft. 1358) ; author of first complete commentaryon D. C, 222, 271 ; his work erroneously attributed to Benvenutoda Imola, 222, 271 ». ; editions and MSB. of, 222, 271-2 ; Latin transla-

tions of, 222-3, 272.Lancia, Andrea (c. i2go-c. 1360); author of Ottimo Comento on D. C,

223, 272.

Landino, Cristoforo (1434-1504) ; mentions Giotto's portrait of Dante,

131 «. ; commentary on D. C, 131 «., ig6 n., 214, 225-6, 273 ; notice

of Dante, 131 «., 278.Lando da Gubbio; proclaims amnesty to Florentine exiles, 98; Villani's

description of, 98 n.

Lapa Cialuffi. See Cialuffi.

Lapo Gianni. See Gianni.Lastra ; exiled Whites at, go.

Latham, C. S. ; translation of Dante's Letters, 195-6 «., 251 n.

Latin ; translations of D. C. in, 217, 224 ».

Latino, Brunetto (c. 1210-1294); relations with Dante, 64; his Tresor,

64 ; Giotto's portrait of, 131, 268, 269.

Leghorn. See Livorno.

Leicester, Earl of; owns MS. of Convivio at Holkham, 192 n.

Leigh, Edward (1602-1671) ; Treatise of-' Religion and Learning, and ofReligious and Learned Men, 279 «.

Leipzig ; edition of V. N. published at, 167 «.

302 INDEX

Leland, John (c. 1500-1552) ; saw copies of G. da Serravalle's commentary

on D. C. at Oxford and Wells, 224 ».

Leo X (Pope, 1513-1521) ; authorizes removal of Dante's remams from

Ravenna, 113-14, 117.Leon Poggi. See Poggi.Leonardo Aretino. See Bruni, Leonardo.Letters of Dante; mentioned by Bruni, 54 »., 57 m., 86 »., 91 «., 95 ».,

251; by Villani, 249-50 ; by Boccaccio, 251 ; by Filelfo, 252 ; account

of, 246-52; discovered mostly through exertions of Witte, 246 ».;

Witte's editions of, 246 ». , 247, 248, 249 ; numeration of, in Oxford

Dante, 246 k. ; Torri's edition, 247, 248, 249, 251 ». ; doubtful letters,

251-2; English translations, 251 ».; to Cino da Pistoja, 50, 248 ; to

Princes and Peoples of Italy, 93, 248 ; to Florentines, 93-4, 95-6,

248-g ; to Emperor Henry VII, 94, 249 ; to Italian Cardinals, 97,

249-50; to friend in Florence, 98-9, 250; critical text Of, 99 n.; to

Can Grande, 195-6, 250 ; utilized by F. Villani, 250 ; to Niccolo daPrato, 246-7; to Counts of Romena, 247; to Moroello Malaspina,

247; letters quoted, 54 »., 93-4, 195-6.

Lindsay, Lord (1812-1880) ; account of Giotto's portrait of Dante in

History of Christian Art, 129, 130, 133 n.

Liverpool ; Rossetti's picture of " Dante's Dream " in Walker Art Gallery,

170 n.

Livorno ; edition of V. N. published at, 167 «. ; edition of D. C. printed

at, with false imprint of London, 214 ; editions of Venturi's commen-tary on D. C. published at, 227 «.; Torri's edition of Dante's letters,

247 «., 248 «., 249 «., 251 n.

Lombardi, Francesco Baldassare ; commentary on D. C, 227 ; editions

of, 227.

Lombardi, Pietro (d. c. 1515) ; Venetian architect entrusted by Bembowith restoration of Dante's tomb at Ravenna, 106-7

! P^r' of his workstill existent, 107.

London ; edition of D. C. with false imprint of, 214 ; earliest editions of

D. C. printed In, 215-16 ; Rossetti's Comento Analitico alia D. C, 216,

228 ; Foscolo's Discorso sul testa delta D. C, and edition of D. C,216, 228 ; centenary edition of D. C, 217.

Longfellow, H. W. ; translation of D. C. , with notes, 229.

Lonsdale, Countess of (Augusta Fane, 1761-1838) ; second English edition

ofD. C dedicated to, 215.

Lowell, J. R. ; quoted, 104.

Lubin, A. ; commentary on D. C, 229.

Lucan ; quoted in V. N., 66.

Lucca; Dante's attachment to lady of, 71, 97; captured by Uguccionedella Faggiuola, 97 ; Dante at, 97 ; Venturi's commentary on D. C.

first published at, 227.

Luiso, F. P. ; Chiose di Dante le qualifece eljigluolo, 70 «., 222 «. ; TraChiose e Commenti Antichi alia D. C, 70 ».

Luni, Bishop of; Dante's negotiations with, on behalf of Malaspini,92.

Lunigiana ; Dante in, 91-2.

Lyell, Charles (1767-1849); Poems of the Vita Nuova and Convito ofDante, 136 «., 160 ». ; letter from Kirkup as to mask of Dante, 136», ; translation of Dante's lyrical poems, 160 «,

INDEX 303

Lyons ; editions of D. C. printed at, 214; first edition of D. C. printedoutside Italy, executed at, 214.

Lyrical Poems of Dante, 45, 49, 50, 51-2, 71, 158-60, 165 n, ; mention of,

by Villani, 159; by Boccaccio, 159-60; earliest printed editions,160 ; English translations, 160 n. ; Santi's edition,. 174 n.

Lysistratus Sicyonius (c. 320 B.C.) ; according to Pliny the first whotook cast of human face, 135 ».

MMacri-Leone, F. ; edition of Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, 45 «., 68 «., 69

»., axiA passim. See Boccaccio.Maffei, Rafaello (1451-1522) ; notice of Dante, 279.Maghinardo da Susinana (d. 1302) ; though Ghibelline by birth supports

the Florentine Guelfs, 56 «.

Malaspina Currado (d. t. 1294) ; " foretells " Dante's visit to the Mala-spini in Lunigiana, gi-2.

Malaspina, Franceschino (d. bet. 1313 and 1321) ; Dante's host at Sarzana,91-2.

Malaspina, Moroello (d. c. 13 15) ; Purgatorio said to have been dedicatedto, 92 »., 266 ; first seven cantos of Inferno sent to, by Dino Fresco-baldi, 210-11 ; Dante with, in Lunigiana, 211 ; urges Dante to

complete Inferno, 211 ; letter of Dante to, 247 ; F. Novati on,

247 «.

Malaspini ; Dante's relations with, gi-2.

Malavolti, Catalano de' ; Guelf, appointed joint Podesti of Florence, withLoderingo degli Andalo, in 1266, 30 «.

Manardi, A. ; edition of alleged Credo of Dante, 260 «.

Manetti, Giannozzo (1396-1459) ; mentions Giotto's portrait of Dante,130-1 ; Vita Dantis, 131 «., 277.

Manetto Portinari. See Portinari.

Manfred, King (c. 1231-1266); helps exiled Florentine Ghibellines, 16-17,

18-19 1 defeat of his German horsemen, 19 ; reinforces the Ghibelline

exiles at Siena, 19-21 ; defeated and killed at Benevento, 28-9, 34,

35. 36.

Mantua; Dante at, loo-i, 257; edition ofZ?. C. printed at, 214; statue

of Dante at, 260 «.

Mantuans ; their reverence for Virgil, no.Marini ; helps in search for Bargello portrait of Dante, 133 ; retouches

the portrait, 133, 269.Martin, Theodore {1816-1909) ; translation of V. N., 173 n.

Martinella; Florentine bell so called, 17, 18, 21, 24; captured with Car-

roccio by Sienese at battle of Montaperti, 24.

Marvellian stanzas ; translation of Purgatorio in, 219, 220 ».

Masson, Jean Papire (1544-1611) ; Vita Dantis, 280.

Maurolico, Francesco (fl. c. 1550 ) ; notice of Dante, 279.

Maximilian of Bavaria (1573-1651) ; presents MS. of Dante's letters andDe Monarchia to Pope Gregory XV, 247.

Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805-1872) ; editor of Foscolo's edition of D. C,216, 228.

Medicean Academy at Florence; urge removal of Dante's remains to

Florence, 113, 114, 117 ».

304 INDEX

Medici, Cosimo de' (1519-1569) ; destroys Taddeo Gaddi's portrait of

Dante in Santa Croce, 141.Medici, Francesco I de' (Grand-Duke, 1574-1587) ; removes font broken

by Dante from Baptistery of Florence, 43 n.

Medici, Lorenzo de' (1448-1492); attempts to obtain Dante's remams

firom Ravenna, 112.

Mehus, L. ; Vita AmbrosH Traversarii, 276 ; edition of Manetti's lives

of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, 277.

Meliboeus ; name under which Dino Perini figures in poetical correspond-

ence between Dante and G. del Virgilio, 100 »,, 209 »., 254-6. See

Perini,

Mez2ano, Menghino ; friend of Dante at Ravenna, 100 «., 105 ; his

epitaph on Dante, 100 »., 103 «., 105, 107 ; his friendship with Danteattested by Coluccio Salutati, 100 «., 105 n. ; statement as to date

of Dante's death, 103 n.; close student of D. C, and reputed com-mentator, 105 B.

Michel Angelo (1475-1564) ; offers to design and execute tomb for Dante's

remains, 113.

Michelino, Domenico di. See Domenico.Milan; Dante present at coronation of Henry VII at, 94; edition of

Dante's lyrical poems printed at, 160; edition of Convivio, igi

;

edition of D. C, 214, 222, 271 ; editions of Jacopo della Lana'scommentary on D. C, 222, 271 ; edition of Stefano Talice da Rical-

done's so-called commentary on D. C, 225, 273 ; Biagioli's commen-tary, 228 M. ; Costa's commentary, 228 n. ; Tommaseo's commentary,228 K.; MS. of De Vulg. Eloq. at, 246.

Milanesi, Gaetano; Opere di Vasari, 141 «., 143 »., 145 ». ; report onportraits of Dante, 142 n.; edition of Boccaccio's commentary onD. C, 272.

Milotti, Fiduccio de' ; friend of Dante at Ravenna, 100 «. ; the Alphesi-

boeus of his Eclogues, 100 «., 255-6.

Milton, John (1608-1674) ; lines from D. C. translated by, 218 ; reference

to Boccaccio's account of De Monarchia, 233 n.

Minutoli, C. ; Gentucca e gli altri Lucchesi noininati nella D. C, 98 n.

Missirini, M. ; Vita di Dante, 281.

Modena; edition of Convivio printed at, igi.

Modern Language Review, 173 «., 219 «., 223 «.

Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature, 278 ».

Monarchia, De ; condemned to be burned by Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget,

102, 232-3 ; account of, 231-9 ; chapter divisions in, 231 n. ; Villani's

mention of, 232 ; Boccaccio's account, 232-3 ; date of, 232, 233-5

1

no reference to Dante's exile in, 234 ; mention of Paradiso in someMSS. of, 234 ; analysis of, 235-8 ; Cent. XV Italian translations,

238 ; English translations, 238 n. ; ediUo princeps, 238-9 ; the volumecontaining it probably seen through press by John Foxe, 239 ; quotedby Foxe in Book of Martyrs, 239 ; Oporinus' mistake as to author of,

239 ; MSS. of, 239, 247.Moncetti, G. B. ; first editor of Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, 257.Montaperti, battle of (1260) ; Florentine Guelfs defeated by Sienese, 21-5,

26, 27, 28, 30,37 »., 39, 42.

Monte Cassino ;anonymous commentary on D. C. by monk of, 223, 272.

Monte Catini, battle of (13 15) ; Tuscan Guelfs defeated by Uguccione

INDEX 30s

della Faggiuola, 98, 253; the event suggested to Dante by G. delVirgiUo as subject for Latin poem, 253.

Montefeltro, Buonconte da (d. 1289) ; Ghibelline leader, killed at battleof Campaldino, 60-1 ; relates to Dante, in Purgatory, the fate of hisbody, 61-2.

Montefeltro, Guide da (1223-1298) ; father of Buonconte, 60.Montferrat, John I, Marquis of (1276-1305) ; mention of, in De Vulg.

Eloq., 241.

Montfort, Guy de (c. 1243-1288) ; vicar in Florence after battle of Monta-perti, 34-5.

Monza ; edition of Costa's commentary on D. C. published at, 228 n.Moon, spots on ; Dante's different theories as to, in Convivio and D. C,

175-Moore, Dr. E.; account of opening of Dante's tomb, 116-17 ; critical

edition of Convivio in Oxford Dante, 191 ; owns MS. of Convivio,192 ».; Studies in Dante, 197 »., 221 «., 222 «., 258 n. ; Time Re-ferences in D. C, ig8 n. ; Contributions to Textual Criticism o/D. C,213 n.; editor of Oxford Dante, 217 n.; and of centenary edition ofD. C, 217 «.; identified Italian translation of Graziolo de' Bambag-lioli's Latin commentary on Inferno, 221 ». ; on Quaestio de Aquaet Terra, 258; Dante and his Early Biographers, 276 «., 277 ».,

280.

Mopsus ; name under which G. del Virgilio figures in poetical correspond-ence with Dante, 254-6. See Virgilio.

Mordani, Filippo ; mention of hiding of Dante's remains, 114.Moreni ; his attempts to discover Giotto's portrait of Dante, 132.Morla, C. di Guglielmo di ; fether of Gentucca, 97 ».

Morla, Gentucca ; identified with Gentucca mentioned in D. C, 97.Moronto ; ancestor of Dante, 38 «., 40.

Moryson, Fynes (1366-1630) ; translates Bernardo Canaccio's epitaph onDante, 106 «.; transcribes Bembo's inscription on Dante's tomb,107 «.

Moutier, I. ; edition of Boccaccio's commentary on D. C, 272.Mozzi, Andrea de' (Bp. of Florence, 1287-1295) ; hospital of Santa Maria

Nuova endowed by Folco Portinari at his suggestion, 47 «.

Murray, John (1778-1843) ;publisher of Rossetti's Comento Analitico alia

D. C, 215-16.

Muso ; name under which Albertino Mussato of Padua figures in poetical

correspondence between Dante and G. del Virgilio, 255.

Mussato, Albertino (1261-1329) ; figures under the name of Muso in

poetical correspondence between Dante and G, del Virgilio, 255.

N

Naples ; Henry VII marches against, g6 ; bronze bust of Dante at, 141

;

editions of D. C. printed at, 214 ; editions of Lombardi's commentaryon D. C, 227 ». ; of Biagioli's commentary, 228 ». ; of Costa's com-mentary, 228 ». ; reprint of Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, 257 n.

Naples, King Robert of. See Robert.

Negroni, C. ; editor of Stefano Talice da Ricaldone's so-called comment-ary on D. C, 225, 273; of Gelli's lectures on D. C, 226, 274.

Neri. See Blacks.

3o6 INDEX

Niccola Pisano (c. 1205-1278) ; destroys Guardamorto tower at Florence,

II n, ; contrives to spare Baptistery, 12 n.

Nicoletti, Marcantonio (1536-1596) ; notice of Dante, 280.

Nidobeato, Martino Paolo ; edition of D. C, with commentary of Jacopo

della Lana, printed by, at Milan, 222, 271.

Nine ; connection of, with Beatrice, 164-6.

Norton, C. E. (1827-1908) ; On the Original Portraits of Dante, 128-40;

translation of V. N., 162 «., 173 ». ; remarks on V. N., 162-4 ; trans-

lation of £). C, with notes, 229 ; review of Tamburini's translation of

Benvenuto da Imola's commentary on D. C, 272.

Norwegian ; selections from D. C. translated into, 217.

Novati, F. ; Epistolario di Coluccio Salutati, 105 »., 196 ». ; on Dante's

letter to Moroello Malaspina, 247 n.

Nuremberg Chronicle; notice of Dante in, 278.

Okey, T. ; translation of V. N., 159 »., 160 «., 173 «.

Oporinus, Joannes (1507-1568) ;printer of editio princeps oiDe Monarchia,

239 ; his error as to authorship of treatise, 239.Orcagna, Andrea (c. 1308-1368) ; picture of Dante by Domenico di Mich-

elino in Duomo at Florence formerly attributed to, 143 n.

Ottimo Commento ; author of, quoted, 213 ; date of 223,272; author of,

223, 272 ; Torri's edition of, 223, 272.

Otto IV (Emperor, 1208-1212) ; contests Imperial throne with Philip,

Duke of Swabia, 2-3.

Ovid; quoted in V. N., 66.

Oxford ; supposed visit of Dante to, 93, 225 ; MS. of Convivio at, 192 ». ;

editions of D. C. printed at, 217 ; copy of G. da Serravalle's com-mentary on D. C. presented to, by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester,

224 ». ; the bcok seen at Oxford by Leiand, 224 n.

Oxford Dante, 39 »., 5o».,sik., 86«., 100 »., 150 »., 167 «., 246»., 253 «.,

260 n. ; chapter divisions of V. N. in, i6y n. ; critical edition of Con-vivio in, 191 ; contains whole works of Dante, 217 ; edited by E.

Moore, 217 ».; contains index of proper names and notable matters,

217 »., 230; critical text oiQuaestio de Aqua et Terra, 258.Oxford Dante Society ; mask of Dante presented to, by Kirkup, 137 ».

Padua ; alleged studies of Dante at, 67 ; alleged visit to, in 1306, gi

;

doubts as to this visit, 91 ». ; edition of Convivio printed at, 191

;

Cent. XVII edition of D. C, 226 ». ; edition of Lombardi's com-mentary on D. C. 227 n. ; first edition of Volpi's indices to D. C, 227

;

Witte's edition of Dante's letters, 246 »., 248 «., 249 n. ; Cangrande'soperations against, 253.

Paget, Sir James ; opinion of death-mask of Dante, 137 n.

Palatine MS. in Vatican, containing Dante's letters and De Monarchia,246-7, 248, 249 ; history of, 247.

Palazzo del Podest4. See Podest^.Palazzo della Signoria. See Signoria.

Palazzo Vecchio. See Signoria.

INDEX 307

Palermo; edition of Venturi's commentary on D. C. published at, 227 «.

;

Biagioli's commentary, 228 n.

Papanti, G. ; Dante secondo la tradizione e i novellatori, 145 n., 146 ».,

152 «., 156 »., 157 ».

Paradiso ; alleged dedication of, to Frederick II of Sicily, 92 n. : dedica-tion to Can Grande, 195-6, 250 ; number of lines in, 197 ; date ofcomposition, 198 ; scheme of, 203-6 ; Boccaccio's story of lost cantos,206-8 ; completion of, contemplated by Dante's sons, 207 ; cantos of,

submitted to Can Grande by Dante, 208 ; recovered cantos sent to

Can Grande, 208; English translations of, 219-20; mention of, in

some MSS. of De Monorchia, 234.Paris ; Dante at, 92, 122 ; edition of D. C. printed at, 214 ; edition of

Venturi's commentary on D. C. published at, 227 n.; first edition of

Biagioli's commentary, 227-8; editio frinceps oi De Vulg. Eloq,, 245,280.

Pasqualigo, F. ; edition of anonymous Latin commentary on Dante's

Eclogues, 252 ».

Passerini, G. L. ; La Famiglia Alighieri, 70 n.

Passerini, L. ; Storia degli Stabilimenti di Beneficenza della Citta di

Firenze, 47 ».; report on portraits of Dante, 142 n.

Paur, T. ; Dante's PortrUt, 270 n.

Peacock, Thomas Love (1785-1866) ; version of Purg. viii. 1-6 in Head-long Hall, 221.

Pelli, Giuseppe; Memoire per servire alia vita di Dante, 281.

Percy, Ladies Elizabeth and Emily ; first English edition of D. C. dedi-

cated to, 215.

Perez, P. ; / sette cerchi del Purgatorio, 203 n.

Perini, Dino ; friend of Dante at Ravenna, 100 n. ; the Meliboeus of

his Eclogues, 100 «., 209 «., 254 ; Boccaccio's informant (according

to the Comento) as to recovery of first seven cantos of /m/o-ko, 209 n.,

254 M.

Perugia ; editio princeps of Bruni's Vita di Dante printed at, 277.

Petrarca, Francesco (1304-1374) ; Boccaccio's Latin epistle to, 92 ;pro-

posed monument to, in Duomo at Florence, 112; anecdote of Dante

in Res Memorandae, 144-!;.

Petronj, S. E. ; editor of English edition of i3. C, 215.

Phillimore, C. M. ; Dante at Ravenna, 118.

Piacenza ; Dante at, loi, 103.

Piccolomini, Enea Silvio (1405-1464). See Pius II.

Pickering, William (1789-1854) ;publisher of diminutive English edition of

D. C, 215 ; and of Foscolo's Discorso sul Testo del D. C, 216.

Piero. See Pietro.

Piero di Dante. See Alighieri.

Piero di Giardino. See Giardino.

Pietro Alighieri. See Alighieri.

Pilkington, Mrs. (Maria Elizabeth Gibbs, 1755-1843); second English

edition of D. C. dedicated to, 215.

Pisa ; lectures on D. C. at, by Francesco da Buti, 224 ; edition of Ven-

turi's commentary on D. C. published at, 227 n.

Pisa, Guido da. See Guido.

Pistoja ; Corso Donati Podesta of, 58 ; Blacks and Whites in, 75-7.

Pistoja, Cino da. See Cino.

3o8 INDEX

Pius II (Pope, 1458-1464) ; compendium of Flavio Biondo's Histonae ab

inclinato Romano Imperio, 277 ; Italian translation of, 277.

Pliny ; reference in Histona Naturalis to art of taking casts from human

face, 135 ». J- J /I

Plumptre, E. H. (1821-1891) ; translation of Commedm and Lanzoniere

of Dante, 160 «., 253 »., 260 «.; notes on D. C, 229; translation of

Dante's Latin Eclogues, 253 n. ; and of Dante's Professtone dt Fede,

260 n.

PodestEl ; office of, in Florence, 5 «., 30 «.

Podesta, Palazzo del, in Florence; now known as Bargello, 129 ;portrait

of Dante in, 129-35 ; fire in, mentioned by Villani, 130 «. ; Mrs.

Bunbury's account of, 132 n.

Poggi, Andrea; nephewof Dante, 39 ; resemblance to Dante, 39 ; supplies

Boccaccio with information about Dante, 39 ; account of the recovery

of the seven first cantos of the Inferno, 209-11.

Poggi, Leon ; married Dante's half-sister, 38-9 ; his son Andrea intimate

with Boccaccio, 39. {See above.)

Poggibonsi; Henry VII at, 95.

Poggio Fiorentino. See Bracciolini.

Polentone, Secco (c. 1375-c. 1448) ; notice of Dante, 277 ; two forms of,

277 «.

Poletto, G. ; commentary on D. C, 229; Dhionario Dantesco, 230.

Polish ; translation of D. C. in, 217.

Poliziano, Angelo (1454-1494) ; authorship of De Monarchia attributed to

friend of his by Oporinus, 239 ».

Polj^hemus ; name under which King Robert of Naples is supposed to

figure in poetical correspondence between Dante and G. del Virgilio,

256 «.

Poppi ; Dante at, 93.

Portinari, Beatrice (1266-1290) ; Dante's first meeting with, 43 ; identi-

fied by Boccaccio and Pietro di Dante with the Beatrice of V. N. and

D. C, 43 ; Boccaccio's account of, 43-5 ; salutes Dante, 45 ;denies

him her salutation, 45 ; Dante sees her at a wedding-feast, 45-6

;

her marriage to Simone de' Bardi, 46 ; the marriage probably political,

46 ». ; death of her father Folco, 46-7 ; mentioned in her father's

will, 46 M.-47 ». ; her death, 47, 63, 67, 71, 161, 165 ; date of her death,

47 ».-48 n., 161, 165 ; canzone on her death by Cino da Pistoja, 48-g,

107 ; connection of number nine with, 164-6 ; Dante's resolve to say

of her what had been said of no other woman fulfilled in D. C, 193.

Portinari, Folco (d. 1289) ; father of Beatrice, 43-4, 46-7 ; death of, 46-7,

161, i6g ; account of 46 ».-47 k. ; his will, 46 ».-47 n. ; founds hos-

pital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, 47.

Portinari, Manetto (d. 1334) ; eldest son of Folco Portinari, 47 ». ; prob-

ably the near relation of Beatrice mentioned by Dante in V. N. as

his intimate friend, 47 «., 171 ; friend of Guido Cavalcanti, 47 «.

Portuguese ; translation of D. C. in, 217.

Pouget, Bertrand du (Cardinal, 1316-1351); condemns Dante's De Mon-archia to be burned, 102, 232 ; created cardinal by his uncle. PopeJohn XXII, 232 «.

Prato ; G. da Serravalle's commentary on D. C. published at, 224-5, 273)

277 ; edition of Lombardi's commentary, 227 ».; Costa's commentary,228 n.

INDEX 309

Prato, NiccoIS da (Cardinal, 1303-1321) ; sent by Benedict XI to pacifyFlorence, 90, 246 ; Dante's letter to, 246-7.

Preitenitto ; ancestor of Dante, 40, 41.Professione di Fede, Dante's ; also known as Dante's Credo, 259. See

Credo.

Promis, V. ; joint editor of Stefano Talice da Ricaldone's so-called com-mentary on D. C, 225, 273.

Prose Antiche di Dante, Peirarcha, et Boccaccio, 249 »., 251 n.

Provenzano Salvani. See Salvani.

Ptolemy, the astronomer; quoted in V. N., 66.

Pucci, Antonio (c. 1310-c. 1390) ; supposed reference to Giotto's portrait

of Dante, 130 n. ; notice of Dante in Centiloquio, 275.Purgatorio; alleged dedication to Moroello Malaspina, 92 ». ; number

of lines in, 197 ; date of composition, ig8 ; scheme of, 200-3 '< Englishtranslations of, 219-20.

Quadrio, Francesco Saverio (1695-1756); opinion ol Setts Salmi Peniten-ziali attributed to Dante, 261.

Quadrivium ; Dante's instruction in arts of, 66 n.

Quaestio de Aqua et Terra; treatise ascribed to Dante, loi, 256 ; delivered

as public dissertation at Verona, loi, 257 ; disputed authenticity of,

loi, 256-8 ; account of, 256-8 ; editio princeps of, 257 ; facsimile re-

print of, 257 «., 258 ». ; English translations, 258 «.; critical text of,

258 ; analysis of, 258-9.

Quirini, Giovanni; poetical correspondent of Dante, 107, 107 n.; lamenton Dante's death, 108 ; sonnet in defence of Dante's memory, 108

;

sonnet to Can Grande della Scala urging him to publish Dante'sParadiso, 108.

Rafaello Volterrano. See Maifei.

Rajna, Pio; La Lettera di Frate Ilario, 92 »., 266; critical edition ofDe Vulg. Eloq., 245 «., 246.

Rambaldi da Imola, Benvenuto (c. 1338-1390) ; account of Belacqua, 147

;

commentary on D. C, 147, 213, 222, 223, 225, 272 ; Italian transla-

tions of, 223, 272 ; story of Dante and his rhymes, 213 ; Jacopo della

Lana's commentary erroneously attributed to, 222, 271 n. ; lectures

at Bologna on D. C., 223 ; his lectures transcribed by Steiano Talice

da Ricaldone, 223 n., 225, 273 n. ; biographical notice of Dante, 275-6,

Raphael (1483-1520) ;portrait of Dante, 137.

Ravenna ; Dante's daughter Beatrice a nun in convent of Santo Stefanodeir Uliva at, 70-1 ; visited by Boccaccio at, 71 ; Dante's children,

Pietro, Jacopo, and Beatrice, with him at, 71, 99 ; Dante's last re-

fuge, 99 ; Commedia completed at, 100 ; Dante's friends at, 100 ». ;

death of Dante at, 103 ; burial and tomb, 103-7, "l ! Fynes Morysonat, 106 n., 107 «. ; people of, refuse to part with Dante's remains,

109, 112-15 ; relics of Dante in Biblioteca Nazionale at, 118 ».; Boc-caccio's visits to, 119 ; Dante and the Inquisitor at, 15 1-2.

3IO INDEX

Reckoning, Florentine method of, 28 »., 36 n.

Ricaldone, Stefeno Talice da (d. c. 1520) ; his so-called commentary on

D. C. a transcription of Benvenuto da Imola's lectures at Bologna,

223 «., 225, 273 ».

Ricci, Corrado; L' Ultimo Rifugio di Dante, 100 «., 103 «., 104 »., 106 ».,

113 »., 114 »., 116 »., 118 »., 137 »., 252 «., 253 ». ; opinion of death

mask of Dante, 137 ».

Ricci, Stefano; possessed mask of Dante, 137 ; statue of Dante in Santa

Croce, 137 n.

Richardson, Jonathan (1665-1745) ; translated Ugolino episode from D. C,218.

Rime di Trecentisti Minori, 131 n.

Rinuccini, Filippo di Cino (1392-1462) ; Vita di Dante, 278.

Robert (King of Naples, 1309-1343) ; Guido of BattifoUe his Vicar in

Florence, 98 ». ; opponent of Henry VII, 152 ; anecdote of Danteand, 152-4 ; his defeat of Ghibellines in 1318-19 suggested to Danteby G. del Virgilio as subject for Latin poem, 253-4 '< supposed to figure

as Polyphemus in poetical correspondence between Dante and G.

del Virgilio, 256.

Rocca, L. ; Del commento di Pietro di Dante alia D. C, 41 ». ; Di Alcuni

Commenti della D. C. composti nei primi venV anni dopo la morte di

Dante, 70 «., 221 h., 222 «., 223 n.; Chiose attribuite a Jacopo di

Dante, 70 n., 222 «.

Rogers, Charles {1711-1784) ; author of first published English translation

ol Inferno, 218.

Rogers, Samuel (1763-1855) ; subscriber to Rossetti's Com^nto Analitico

alia D. C, 216 ; version of Purg. viii. 1-6 in Italy, 221.

Rolandi, Pietro; publisher of Foscolo's edition of D. C, 216.

Romagna ; Dante in, 125.

Rome; Dante's embassy to, 83, 124-5 ; editions of Lombardi's commentaryon D. C. published at, 227 n.

Romena, Counts of; letter of Dante to, 247.Rosciate, Alberico da (d. 1354) ; Latin translation of Jacopo della Lana's

commentary on D. C. 223, 272.Rossetti, D. G. (1828-1882) ; Dante and his Circle, 49 »., 50 n., 52 ».,

107 n., 159 «. ; picture of Dante's " Boat of Love," 51 ». ; at one

time owner of Kirkup's tracing of Giotto's portrait of Dante, 134

». ; picture of " Dante's Dream," 170 n. ; translation of V. N.,

173 »•

Rossetti, G. (1783-1854) ; tracing of Giotto's portrait of Dante given to,

by Kirkup, 134 n. ; letters of Kirkup to, about portrait, 135 »., 267-70,

Comento Analitico alia D. C, 216, 228 ; Sulla Spirito Antipapale che

produsse la Riforma, 228 ji.; II Mistero dell' Amor Platonico del

Medio Evo, 228 «.

Rossetti, M. F. (1827-1876) ; Shadow of Dante, 202 n.

Rossetti, W. M. ; Gabriele Rossetti, 135 «., 267 n.

Rostagno, E. ; edition of Compendio of Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, 275 n.

;

theory as to its relation to the Vita, 275 n.

Roumanian; translation of Z). C. in, 217.Rudolf (Emperor, 1272-1292); not recognised as Emperor by Dante,

234-5 »•

Russian; translation oiD. C. in, 217.

INDEX 311

Sacchetti family of Florence; feud with Alighieri, 42; Geri del Bello

murdered by member of, 42, 147 ; one of Sacchetti murdered in re-

venge, 42 ; reconciliation between the two families, 42.

Sacchetti, Franco (c. 1335-1400) ; anecdotes of Dante in his Novelle,

147-50.

Salutati, Coluccio (d. 1406) ; attests friendship of Menghino Mezzanowith Dante, 100 «., 105 ».; speaks of D. C. as " opus divinissimum,"

196 ».

Saluzzo; Stefano Talice da Ricaldone's so-called commentary on D. C,supposed to have been delivered as lectures at, 225.

Salvadori, G. ; Sulla Vita Giovanile di Dante, 66 «.

Salvani, Provenzano (d. 1269) ; leader of Sienese Ghibellines, 20,

San Gemignano ; Dante's embassy to, 73.San Giovanni. See Giovanni, San.

San Godenzo ; Dante present at meeting of exiled Whites at, 90.

San Procolo, in Florence ; Dante in charge of public works on, 82.

Sanskrit; selections from D. C. translated into, 217.

Sansovino, Francesco (1521-1586); Italian translation of Filippo da Ber-

gamo's Supplementum Chronicarum, 278.

Santa Croce, in Florence ; Ricci's statue of Dante in, 137 n. ; portrait of

Dante by Taddeo Gaddi, 141.

Santa Maria Novella ; Dominican schools of, at Florence, probably at-

tended by Dante, 66 n.

Santa Maria Nuova; hospital at Florence endowed by Folco Portinari, 47.

Santi, A. ; Canaoniere di Dante, 174 n.

Santi, Friar Antonio ; conceals Dante's remains, 116.

Sarzana; Guido Cavalcanti exiled to, 81-2 ; Dante at, 91.

Saviozzo, II. See Serdini.

Savonarola, Michele (d. c. 1460) ; anecdote of Dante, 145.

Sayer, E. ; translation of Convivio, 192 n.

Scala, Bartolommeo della (lord of Verona, 1301-1304) ; Dante's host at

Verona, gi.

Scala, Can Grande della (lord of Verona, 1308-1329) ; Dante's host at

Verona, 99, 144 ; sonnet of Quirini to, urging him to publish Dante'sParadiso, 108 ; stories of Dante and, 144-6, 154 ; Paradiso dedicated

to, 195, 250; Dante's letter to, explaining subject and aim of D. C,195-6, 250, cantos of Paradiso submitted to, by Dante, 208 ; missing

cantos sent to, by Dante's sons, 208 ; his operations against Paduasuggested to Dante by G. del Virgilio as subject for Latin poem, 253.

Scaligers of Verona. Sc« Scala.

Scarabelli, L. ; editor ofJacopo della Lana's commentary on D. C, 222, 271.

Scartazzini, G. A. ; commentary on D. C, 229 ; Enciclopedia Dantesca,

230, 281 ; Companion to Dante, 250 »., 281 ; Dante-Handbuch, 281

;

Prolegomeni della D. C, 281.

Schedel, Hartmann (d. c. 1500) ; notice of Dante in Nuremberg Chronicle,

278.

Scherillo, M. ; Alcuni Capitoli della Biografia di Dante, 38 »., 280; LaForma Architettonica della Vita Nuova, 166 «.

Schonbrunn; MS. of Cittadini's translation of De Vulg. Bloq. preserved

at, 245.

312 INDEX

Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832) ; subscriber to Rossetti's Comento Analitko

alia D. C, 216.

Selfe. See Wicksteed,Selmi, F. ; editor of anonymous commentary on Inferno, 222, 271.

Sercambi, Giovanni (1348- 1424); anecdotes of Dante, 152-4.

Serdini, Simone (c. 1360-c. 1419) ; otherwise known as II Sa/iozzo, 276;

notice 6f Dante, 276.Serravalle, Giovanni da (c. 1350-1445) ; statement that Dante studied at

Oxford, 93, 225 Jotherwise known as G. de' Bertoldi, 224, 276 ; Latin

commentary and translation of D. C, 224-5, 273, 276-7 ; copy of, pre-

sented to University of Oxford by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester,

224 «. ; copies of, seen by Leland at Oxford and at Wells, 224 n.

;

MSS. of, 224 «., 277 «. ; written during Council of Constance at in-

stigation of two English Bishops, 224-5 ; Serravalle's visit to England,

225 ; notice of Dante, 276-7.Sette Salmi Penitenziali ; alleged translation of, by Dante, 259 ; MSS.

and editions of, 260.

Sforza, Duchess ; her connection with mask of Dante, 136.

Shadwell, C. L. ; critical text and translation of Quaestio de Aqua et Terra,

258.

Shelley, P. B. (1792-1822) : interest in publication of Taaffe's Commenton D. C, 229.

Siena; flagstaffs preserved in Cathedral of, 24 n. ; anecdotes of Dante

at, 122, 154 ". anonymous commentary on Inferno by native of, 222.

Signoria, Palazzo della, at Florence ; now known as Palazzo Vecchio,

12 ; built askew by Arnolfo di Lapo, 12 ; Martinella bell hung in, 18 n.

Smith, J. R. ; translation of Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, 275 ; of Bruni's

Vita di Dante, 277.

Society Dantesca Italiana ; Bullettino, 37 »., 38 «., 53 «., 72 »., 84 «.,

85 «., go «., 92 »., 99 «., 222 »., 223 «., 277 «. ; critical edition oi

V. N., 167 B., 173 ; of De Vulg. Eloq., 246.

Solerti, A. ; Vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, scritte fino al secolo

decimosesto, 276 »., 277 »., 278 n., 279 »., 280.

Sonetti e Canzoni di diversi Autori Toscani, 160.

Sorcery. See Witchcraft.

Spanish; translations of JD. C. in, 217.Spectator ; Kirkup's account of " restoration " of Giotto portrait of Dante,

133. 133 «•

Spencer, Earl (George John, 1758-1834) ; Pickering's edition of D. C.

dedicated to, 215.

Spenserian stanzas; translation of Z>. C. in, 219.Spira, Vendelin da. See Vendelin.Stefani, Melchiorre (d. 1403) ; notice of Dante, 276.Strada, Zanobi da (1312-1361) ; proposed monument to, in Duomo at Flor-

ence, 112.

Strocchi, Dionigi ; mention of hiding of Dante's remains, 114.Swedish; translation of £>. C. in, 217.

Syrian calendar; utilised by Dante in V. N., 47 «., 48 »., 67, 165, 170.

Taaffe, John (fl. 1820) ; author of first English commentary on D. C.

229 ; interest of Byron and Shelley in publication of, 220.

INDEX 313

Tacca, Pietro (d. 1640) ; mask of Dante given to, by Gian Bologna, 136.Tamburini, G. ; Italian translation of Benvenuto da Imola's commentary

on D. C, 272 ; Norton's review of, 272 «.

Tana (Gaetana) Alighieri. See Alighieri.Tarver, J. C. (1790-1851); prints French translation of Inferno, v^ith

Italian text, at Windsor, 215.Tegghiaio Aldobrandi. See Aldobrandi.Terza rima ; English translations from D. C. in, 215, 218, 219, 220.Thomas, J. W. ; translation of D. C, virith notes, 229.Thompson, S. P. ; translation of Quaestio de Aqua et Terra, 258 «.

Tilly, Johann Tserclaes, Count of (1359-1632) ; removes MS. of Dante'sletters and De Monarchia from Heidelberg, 247,

Tiraboschi, G. (1731-1794) ; Storia delta Letteratura Italiana, 276 ».,

277 «., 279 n.

Tityrus ; name under which Dante figures in poetical correspondence withG. del Virgilio, 254-6.

Tomraaseo, N. ; commentary on D. C, 228 ; editions of, 228 n.

Torraca, F. ; commentary on D. C, 229.Torri, A. ; chapter divisions in edition of V. N., 167 ». ; editor of Ottimo

Comento, 223, 272; edition of De Monarchia, 231 «. 238 «.; chapterdivisions in, 231 «.; edition of Dante's letters, 247, 248, 249, 251 «.

Torrigiani, Marchese ; his mask of Dante, 137.Toynbee, Paget ; Dante Dictionary, 42 »., 159 «., 230, 231 n. ; Dante

Studies and Researches, 48 »., 223 »., 235 «. ; Dante in EnglishLiterature, 125 »., 143 k., 155 «., 156 »., 157 n., 214 «., 218 «., 224 «.,

229 n., 233 »., 279 ». ; Inquisition and Editio Princeps of V. N,, 173 n.

;

Indice dei Nomi Propri e delle cose Notahili contenute nelle opere di

Dante, 217 n., 230 ; // Testo Wittiano della D. C, 217 «. ; Earliest

editions of D. C. printed in England,'2i7 n. ; English Translations

of Dante in Cent, XVIII, 2ig n. ; Chronological List of EnglishTranslations from Dante, 221 »., 229 n., 230 n. ; English Transla-tions of Dante's Works, 221 ». ; Boccaccio's Commentary on D. C,223 n. ; Benvenuto da Imola and his Commentary on D. C, 223 «. ;

yohn Foxe and the Editio Princeps of Dante's De Mon., 239 «. ;

Biographical Notice of Dante in 1494 edition of Speculum Historiale,

278 n.

Tozer, H. F. ; English Commentary on D. C, 230.

Trissino, Giangiorgio (1478-1550) ; translation oiDe Vulg. Eloq., 245-6.

Tritheim, Johann (1462-15 16) ; notice of Dante, 279.

Trivium ; Dante's instruction in arts of, 66 «.

Trivulzian MS. of D« Vulg. Eloq., 246.

Turin ; edition of Stefano Talice da Ricaldone's so-called commentary onD. C. published at, 225, 273 ; edition of Venturi's commentary, 227 «.

U

Uberti family of Florence ; leaders of Ghibellines, 12, 13, 31.

Uberti, Beatrice degli ; daughter of Farinata, married to Guido Caval-

canti, 34 n.

Uberti, Farinata degli (c. 1200-c. 1264) ; advice to Florentine Ghibellines,

16-19 :pretended negotiations with Guelfs, 20, 22 ; at battle of

Montaperti, 23 ; at Council of Empoli saves Florence from destruc-

314 INDEX

tion, 27 ; his daughter married to Guido Cavalcanti, 34 ; his death,

34 «.; Dante's meeting with, in Hell, 37.Uffizi Gallery at Florence ; mask of Dante in, 137 ».

Ugolino della Gherardesca. See Gherardesca.Ugolino episode from D. C; English translations of, 218, 220.

Uguccione della Faggiuola. See Faggiuola.

Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574) ; life of Niccola Pisano, 11 n. ; life of Arnolfodi Lapo, 12 n. ; life of Giotto, 131 ; mentions Giotto's portrait ofDante, 131, 267 ; life of Andrea del Verrocchio, 135 ; on taking casts

from human face, 135 ; life of Taddeo Gaddi, 141 ; mentions Gaddi'sportrait of Dante, 141 ; destroys fresco by order of Cosimo I, 141.

Vatican; MS. of G. da Serravalle's commentary on D. C. in, 224 «.,

227 ».; MS. of letters of Dante, 246-7, 248, 249, 251 ». ; MS. of DcMonarchia, 247.

Vellutello, Alessandro (c. 1519-0. 1590) ; commentary on D. C, 226, 273-4,

279 ; notice of Dante, 279.Vendelin da Spira ; first printed Jacopo della Lana's commentary on D. C,

222 ; and Boccaccio's Vita di Dante, 275.Vendetta ; recognised institution in Florence, 41-2 ; approved by Dante, 41.

Venice ; Dante's embassy to, 103, 155 ; edition of Dante's works publishedby Zatta at, 107 ». ; Dante and the Doge of, 155-6 ; edition of Dante'slyrical poems printed at, 160 ; editions of Convivio, 191 ; editions ofD. C, 196 »., 214, 222, 226 «., 271, 274; editions of Landino's com-mentary on D. C. , 226 n. ; Vellutello's commentary, 226 n. ; Daniello'scommentary, 226 ; Cent. XVII edition of D. C, 226 n. ; Venturi'scommentary, 227 «. ; Costa's commentary, 228 «. ; MS. of Dante'sletter to Henry VII at, 249 ; editio pnnceps of Quaestio de Aqua et

Terra, 257.Venturi, Pompeo (1693-1752) ; commentary on D. C, 227 ; editions of,

227 ».

Venus ; mistake as to, in almanack used by Dante, 197 ».

Vernon, Lord {1803-1866) ; commentaries of Pietro and Jacopo di Danteon D. C. published by, 70 »., 222, 223, 271, 272 ; owner of Kirkup'sfacsimile of Giotto's portrait of Dante, 134; Italian translation of

Bambaglioli's commentary on Inferno published by, 221, 271 ; com-mentary on D. C. attributed to Boccaccio published by, 223, 272-3.

Vernon, W. W. ; Benvenuto da Imola's commentary on D. C. publishedby, 223, 272 ; Readings on Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, 229-30.

Verona ; Dante at, gi, 99, loi ; dissertation De Aqua et Terra deliveredat, 101, 257 ; edition of Venturi's commentary on D. C. published at,

227 «. ; Dante's letter to Florentine friend first printed at, 250.Vicenza ; Cent. XVII edition of D. C. printed at, 226 «. ; Trissino's trans-

lation of De Vulg. Eloq., 245.Villani, Filippo (d. 1404) ; statement as to Dante's intimacy with his uncle

Giovanni, 37 »., 126 ; Latin commentary on canto i of Inferno,

37 n. ; mention of Giotto's portrait of Dante, 130, 267 ; lectures onD. C. at Florence, 250 ; notice of Dante, 276.

Villani, Giovanni (d. 1348) ; his Chronicle quoted, 5-7, 8-10, 11-12 12-13,14-15, i6-t7, 17.18, 18-19, ao, 21-5, 26-7, 28, 29-33, 34, 35. 39. 43, 44.

INDEX 315

55. 56-7. 58-60, 62, 79-81, 85, 96 »., 98 «., 107, 126-7, 130 »., 159.

i74i 19S1 232, 239-40, 249-50; his intimacy with Dante, 37 »., 126 ;

does not mention Alighieri among Guelf families of Florence, 39-40

;

estimate of yearly baptisms in Florence, 43 n. ; testimony to Dante'sguiltlessness of corruption, 85 ; notice of Dante's death, 107 ; accountof Dante, 126-7, 275 ; mention of Dante's lyrical poems, 159 ; of

Convivio, 174 ; account oiD. C, 195 ; mention of De Monarchia, 232

;

account of De Vulg. Eloq,, 239-40 ; mention of Dante's letters, 249-50.Vincent of Beauvais. See Beauvais,Virgil; quoted in V. N., 66.

Virgilio, Giovanni del ; professor at Bologna, 100 ; invites Dante to re-

ceive laurel crown at Bologna, 100;poetical correspondence with

Dante, 100, 252-6 ; epitaph on Dante, 103 «., 105 ; statement as to

date of Dante's death, 103 n. ; figures as Mopsus in poetical corres-

pondence with Dante, 254-6.

Visconti, Galeazzo (d. 1328) ;process against, for attempt on life of Pope

John XXII, 101-3 (see below) ; reference to his marriage in D. C.,

lOI ».

Visconti, Matteo (d. 1322) ;process against him and his son Galeazzo for

attempt on life of Pope John XXII, 101-3 ; his dealings with the

sorcerer Canolati, 101-2 ; speaks of employing Dante as a sorcerer at

Piacenza, 102.

Visions ; part played by, in V. N., 164-6.

Vita Nuova ; contains story of Dante's love for Beatrice, 43, 46, 48 ; re-

ference to D. C. in, 48, 193 ! date of, 66, 160 ; composed after Pro-

vencal model, 66, 166 ; authors quoted in, 66-7 ; account of, 160-73 ;

editio princeps of, 160, 172, 173, 233 n. ; positive dates in, 160-1

;

Boccaccio's account of, 161-2 ; Norton on, 162-4 I meaning of name,

163-4 idedicated to Guido Cavalcanti, 164 ; distinctive features of,

164-6 ; main divisions of, 166 ; chapter divisions, 166-7, 167 ». ;

analysis of, 167-72 ;printed editions, 172-3 ; Barbi's critical edition,

173; MSS. of, 173; English translations, 173 «.; wherein it differs

from Convivio, 175, 176 ; probably the book which Dante holds in the

Giotto portrait, 268 ; the work quoted, 38 »., 43, 45, 46, 47 n., 63,

64, 65, 67, 197 «.. , . , ,

Voghera; edition of Costa's commentary on D. C. published at, 228 ».

Volapuk ; selections from D. C. translated into, 217.

Volpi, Antonio (1686-1766) ; indices to D. C, 227.

Vulgari Eloquentia, De ; reference to Dante's exile in, 89, 241 ; account

of, 239-46 ; Villani's account of, 239-40 ; Boccaccio's account, 240

;

chapter divisions in, 240 ; date of, 240-1 ; supposed reference to, in

Convivio, 241 ; analysis of, 24ir5 ; early Italian translations, 245

;

editio princeps, 245, 276, 280; English translation, 245 ». ; Rajna's

critical text, 245 »., 246 ; MSS. of, 246; the work quoted, 89, 240 ».,

241 «.

WWallis, Whitworth ; owner of bronze bust of Dante, x.

Weinsberg, battle of (i 140) ; war-cries at, 2.

We//and Weiblingen ; origin of Italian Guelf and GhibiUino, 1-2 ; used

as war-cries at battleof Weinsberg, 2.

3i6 INDEX

Wells; copy of G. da Serravalle's commentary on D. C, seen at, byIceland, 224 n.

Welsh; translation of JD. C. in, 217.

White, A. C. ; translation otQuaestio de Aqua et Terra, 258 «.

Whites. See Blacks.Whittinghams

;printers of first single volume English edition of D. C,

216.

Wicksteed, P. H., and E. Gardner ; Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio, 92«., 252 «., 253 «. ; critical edition of Dante's Eclogues, 253.

Wicksteed, P. H., R. Selfe and; Selections from Villani, viii.

Wicksteed, P. H. ; translation of Early Lives of Dante, viii ; of Can-zoniere of Dante, 159 »., 160 n. ; of Convivio, 160 »., 192 ». ; of Boc-caccio's Vita di Dante, 212 «., 275; of De Monorchia, 239 «.; of

Dante's letters, 251 «. ; of Dante's Eclogues, 253 «. ; of Quaestio de

Aqua et Terra, 258 «.; of Villani's notice of Dante, 275; of Bruni's

Vita di Dante, 277.Wilde, R. H. (1789-1847) ; helps to discover Bargello portrait of Dante,

132.

Williams, Lord Keeper (1582-1650) ;quotes anecdote of Dante from Boc-

caccio to Duke of Buckingham, 125 n.

Windsor ; French translation of Inferno, with Italian text, printed at, 215.

Witchcraft; Dante reputed an adept in, 101-2; reference to in D. C,loi n. ; remarks of Anonimo Fiorentino on, loi n.

Witte, Karl (1800-1883) ; chapter divisions in his edition of V. N., 167 b. ;

restores correct title of Dante's Convivio, 173 n. ; Dante-Forsch-ungen, 173 n. ; critical text of X). C, 217 «. ; edition ofDe Monarchia,231 »., 234 «., 239 n. ; chapter divisions in, 231 n.; theory as to date

of treatise, 234 n. ; letters of Dante discovered through his exertions,

246 «. ; edition of Dante's letters, 246 «., 248, 249 ; prints letters of

Dante to Moroello Malaspina in Dante Alighieri's Lyrische Gedichte,

247 n.; upholds attribution to Dante of three letters to Margaret of

Brabant, 251 ; note on Paur's article on portraits of Dante, 270 «.

Wright, Edward (fl. 1720) ; translated inscription on Domenico di Miche-lino's picture of Dante, 143 ». ; anecdote of Dante in Observations on

France and Italy, 156 n.

Wright, Ichabod Charles (1795-1871) ; translation of D. C, 219 ; notes on

D. C, 229.

Zacheroni, G. ; editor of Guiniforto delli Bargigi's commentary on In-

ferno, 225, 273.Zanobi da Strada. See Strada.

Zatta, A. ; edition of Dante's works published at Venice, 107 »., 281.Zenatti, O. ;

prints critical text of Dante's letter to Moroello Malaspina,

247 «.

Zilioli, A. ; notice of Dante, 280.

Zingarelli, N. ; Dante, 8£ »., 91 «., 107 «., io8 «., 175 »., 192 «., 250 «.,

281 ; Vita di Dante in Compendio, z8i.

Zotti, R. ; English editions olD. C. edited by, 215.

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